


coffee & vinyl // muke au

by thegayfromoz



Category: 5SOS, 5SecondsofSummer, 5sosfam
Genre: BoyxBoy, Death, Eventual Smut, Hospitalization, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Muke Clemmings, Near Death Experiences, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Stalking, Uses Of Deadly Weapon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2018-07-15 18:40:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 48,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7234138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegayfromoz/pseuds/thegayfromoz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Everything was slowly falling into place. Until I met Luke. He made my life a mess, a good mess, but a mess nonetheless."</p>
<p>WARNING:</p>
<p>This Story Contains:<br/>Stalking<br/>Hospitalization<br/>Near-Death Experiences<br/>Sex<br/>Mentions Of Rape<br/>Non-Graphic Rape<br/>Use Of Deadly Weapon<br/>Use Of Explosives<br/>Death</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Story Info//Please Read :))

Hi, my name is Mia.

Welcome to 'Coffee & Vinyl', a story that has been a big part of my life since I began writing it back in June 2015. I never intended to post this story anywhere as I was originally writing it just for my friends to read. As the story progressed I became more and more proud of it and more and more eager to share it. So here is my story which I hope you all enjoy as much as I enjoyed writing it.

About the story:

The story takes place around early 2014 when She Looks So Perfect came out. Ashton, Calum, and Luke are the only members of 5SOS and Michael has never heard of the band. Some characters are real people and some were made up just for the sake of the story. This is my first fanfiction so it's kinda sucky and also pretty cheesy but please give me a chance I promise my future stories will be A LOT better. I hope you love it nonetheless.

Thank you for taking your time to read this. Enjoy :)

Twitter: charliccox

Instagram: lgbtqhood

AO3 & Movellas: lgbtqhood


	2. march 28th, 2014

Michael

For most people, Los Angeles is a hard place to live, too overpopulated, too expensive, or too "unfiltered" as some might put it. I personally love the overpopulated-ness and the "unfiltered" like things I witness every day. The one thing I can agree with is that it is very expensive to live here. Even the smallest apartment can drain you of your life's savings. In my case, that's exactly what happened. I grew up in Michigan as an only child basically raised by my neighbors. My dad was never around and my mom had to make money somehow, so she juggled three jobs. She died of a heart attack when I was 15 so I was put into foster care. The day I turned 18 I booked it to California and never looked back. 

Things have been better here, I've made friends and I'm a lot happier with my new life. 

!

Everything was slowly falling into place. Until I met Luke. He made my life a mess, a good mess, but a mess nonetheless.

!

Even then, I thank myself for sticking around and landing a job at a small local record store in Santa Monica. It's never really crazy busy, but we get a few handfuls of people every day. My shift ends at 5:00 pm, closing time, which is rapidly approaching. Before locking up I'm in charge of sorting records since most people make a mess of the shelves during the day. I'd like to go home and take a nap but the reality is there are piles of homework calling my name. Caffeine will definitely be needed.

"Excuse me, do you know where can I would find the Blink-182 records?" I hear behind me.

I turn around and see a boy who looks around my age, dark black curly hair and skin mesmerizingly tan. A Blink-182 t-shirt hanging loosely on his body, paired with a jean jacket and black skinny jeans.

"They should be up against that wall over there," I said while pointing to the other side of the store.

He thanked me before walking away.

I continued sorting records for a while longer until I saw him walk toward the cash register. I put down the stack of records I was working on and walked over to ring him up.

"$28.75,"

"Keep the change,"

He'd handed me a 20 dollar bill along with two 5's. He was gone before I had the chance to thank him and no one else really came in after him. Saturdays are never very busy which has always been odd but I never questioned anyone about it. My best friend Cayla's brother-in-law hired me here after she found out that I was struggling with money here and thinking about moving back to Michigan. He was kind enough to hire me and give me a schedule that didn't interfere with school or my other job at the local grocery store. I work here Wednesdays and Saturdays from opening at 10:30 am to closing at 5:00 pm which is pretty nice. As I sorted the last few records on the shelf I peeked at the clock to see I had one minute to spare. I happily strolled to the back room and grabbed my bag before turning off the overhead speakers that were playing music from my phone. 

!

As I made my way to the only trustworthy caffeine on earth, I listened to overplayed radio tunes. Since the closest Starbucks wasn't very far from work, I didn't have to deal with the radio music for very long.

Today I'd been in a pretty good mood, so I decided I would actually go in and order instead of making my life easier and just going through the drive thru. When I got inside, I went and stood in line to order. There were only a couple people in front of me so it didn't take very long for it to be my turn.

"Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get you?" Asked the barista.

When I looked up from my phone, I was met with a bright smiling dirty blonde who had the most captivating blue eyes I'd ever seen. I was entranced as to how someone like him was working here and not in the modeling business. He was gorgeous.

"Uh dude? You there? " He asked, refocusing my attention on him.

He had such a nice accent. He's only spoken a few words but I already feel like just listening to him talk all day.

"Yeah uhm sorry, I'll just have black coffee," I told him, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"It'll be $3.75 and what's the name for the order?" He said, his accent clearly visible once again.

"Michael," I said before handing him a 5 dollar bill and telling him to keep the change. I was hurrying to get out of here, mostly because I was going to die of embarrassment any second now.

I moved out of line and went to sit down at a table while I waited for my drink. I looked up for a split second to see if he was laughing at me, but when I looked up, he was looking back at me.

I could still see his ocean blue eyes from across the room. I didn't think I was able to look away, it's like I was lost in his eyes.

"Luke get to work!" Yelled an unfamiliar voice.

"Right, sorry." I heard him say before he turned around and got back to work.

So his name is Luke.

!

"Order for Michael"

I went for my drink and of course, Luke was the one who brought it out to me.

"Thanks," I stuttered.

"Anytime." He said smiling.

As I walked away, I looked down at my cup to see he'd put his own twist on writing my name.

'Mikey :-)'

!

As I walked through the front door of my apartment, I was greeted by my golden retriever, Bo.

"Hey boy, you hungry?" I said while hanging my bag in the closet and slipping off my shoes.

He wagged his tail and ran to the kitchen, I followed him and poured some food into his bowl. As he began to eat, put my coffee in the fridge and went to get my laptop from my bedroom.

As a sat down on the couch, my phone vibrated in my pocket, it was Cayla.

*

From Cayla: Mikey! I found this new band on Youtube and I was wondering if you sell physical copies of their EP down at the record store. 

To Cayla: Who's the band?

From Cayla: 5 Seconds of Summer. 

To Cayla: Lmao what kind of name is that? Are they any good?

From Cayla: Of course, they're good, why else would I ask if you sold their stuff?

To Cayla: Idk

From Cayla: Do you sell their stuff or nooooot?

To Cayla: When was the EP released?

From Cayla: Last week.

To Cayla: Then no we don't as far as I know. I've been in charge of new releases and I haven't seen it. Sorry babe.

From Cayla: It's okay! If you get any in pls let me know! :)

*

I opened Youtube to see for myself this band Cayla told me about. She has such a varied taste in music but I always ended up somewhat liking everyone she tells me about. The first video that popped up when I typed their name in the search bar was titled '5 Seconds of Summer - Wherever You Are.' As soon as it started, a boy faded into the screen, he looked around 14 or 15 and he was wearing a baby blue tank top. Seconds later, the screen faded to a black and white filter and showed three boys singing and playing their instruments.

*

By now the song was already half way through and I hadn't realized one of the boys singing was Luke from Starbucks. I was surprised it had taken me that long to recognize his voice. Not only that but I then discovered that another one of the boys in the video was the tan guy who bought a Blink record in the store today.

I decided to peek at the comments to see what people thought of them since there were thousands of views.

Elise Johnson: Wow these guys are really good!

LaShToNIsLoVe: I LOVE yOU GUYS SO MUCH SFAJGHBFOIAKUSFBAIF

5SAUCE_SPNGURL: Love you guys! <3

Emily Catton: One Direction is so much better than these dumbasses.

Justine B: I love these boys so much they make me so happy. Luke, Calum, and Ashton thank you for being so amazing. Love you boys <3

Kevin Schneider: Wow these guys are like a shittier version of All Time Low LMFAO

Sarah Silver: Follow me on twitter everyone I post covers! twitter: sarahxslaysxaf

So far it was mostly good comments, with the occasional hate and self-promo, I guess. I scrolled back up to finish watching the video and all I could really focus on now was Luke. He was so beautiful, it was unreal.

Once the video ended I just stared at the screen for a while. I was trying to decide whether or not I should find out Luke's last name and try to google more information about him or not. I decided against it since I'm pretty sure that's borderline stalking and I'm not begging for a restraining order next time I go to Starbucks.

*

To Cayla: Wow they are pretty good. How'd you find them?

From Cayla: Youtube.

To Cayla: No shit, you already mentioned that. But anyway guess what? I met the blonde one and one of the other ones today not even knowing who they were.

From Cayla: OMG! Seriously? How'd you meet them?

To Cayla: One of the came to the shop today and the other is a barista at the Starbucks nearby.

From Cayla: Luckyyy!!

To Cayla: The blonde one, Luke, is pretty hot.

From Cayla: Dibs. ;)

*

Bo had finished eating and jumped up on the couch next to me with his head resting on my thigh.

"Hey buddy, wanna watch a movie with me?" He responded by wagging his tail.

"What should we watch? The Hunger Games? or Paranormal Activity?"

He barked once.

"Hunger Games it is," I said while getting up to find the TV remote.

!

After the movie ended, it was a little past 8 and I decided it was finally time to work on some stuff for school. I was in my freshman of college and so far I'd kept on with my work pretty well but I've been procrastinating a lot this past week. I'd always make up an excuse for not being able to do my work. Then at the last minute, I would work for ridiculous amounts of time and stay up way too late finishing work. Maybe that's just every college student though.

Today was one of those days where I'd been putting it off since I got home and now I had to write a ten-page essay that was due on Monday. I thought about it for a couple minutes and then decided to put off working on it again. I got up and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. When will I ever break free from this vicious cycle?

I walked into my room to find Bo already asleep on my side of the bed. I climbed in with him and grabbed my phone so I could set an alarm to wake me up tomorrow morning at a decent time. I plugged in my phone after that and tried my best to fall asleep.

*

It must have been an hour of not being able to sleep before I went and grabbed my laptop from the living room and took it back to my bed. I ended up staying up till the crack of dawn watching videos of Luke singing. I had learned in the last hour that I was definitely crushing on Luke and I had to see him again.


	3. Chapter 2

March 29th

*Michael's POV*

I woke up and it was around 9 am and Bo was laying at the end of my bed with his butt facing me. I reached over and grabbed my phone off the nightstand to see if I had any new notifications. All I had was a notification from Twitter that someone new followed me. I decided to get up and make something to eat because i'm hungry and when a human is hungry they're suppose to eat this stuff called food. I'm starting to sound like an alien.

Anyways I got up and walked to the kitchen to see if I actually have any food. I decided on eating a bagel with cream cheese because I don't feel like making anything else. My plan for today was to go back to Starbucks and see if Luke was there. If he's not there i'm probably gonna ask when he'll be back. I'm not stalking him okay, I'm just a curious person. I was trying to plan how I'd start a conversation with Luke without getting him in trouble for not working. I don't think he'd want to talk to me if I got him in trouble.

"Bo, hey boy, wanna go for a walk?" I said excitedly hoping he would wake up. His head shot up and his tail wagged back and forth. "Yeah that's what I thought, " I said while letting out a small chuckle. I got up to go change into shorts and a gray t-shirt that was a little big on me. I didn't put much effort into fixing my hair since it looks windy outside anyways. I walked to the closet near the front door and grabbed my most worn out shoes I could find.

"Bo let's go!" I said as I opened the door.

Bo ran out the door and to the gate surrounding our house. He sat and waited for me to get there as well. I locked the front door and made sure my phone was in my pocket in case someone calls or I need to call someone. I unlocked the gate and let him walk out before I walked out behind him and placed the lock back on the gate. He began walking down the block as I put the lock back on the gate and followed closely behind him. There was a little girl and a lady walking towards us. The lady seemed like she could be her mother since she was pushing a stroller which I assumed had a baby in it. The little girl looked like she could be 4 or 5. As they got closer the little girl was staring at Bo and every once in awhile she would look at me. I saw her turn her head to her mother and tell her something. When she turned back around to look at me she ran ahead of her mother and up to Bo.

"Can I pet the puppy?" She asked me with a smile.

She reached out to pet him but hesitated and looked at me once again.

"Will he bite me?" She asked sounding a bit worried.

"He doesn't bite people, I promise. He's the nicest dog in the world." I said smiling down at her.

She smiled once again and went to pet Bo. She ran her hand from his collar down his back.

"He's so soft." She stated while petting his forehead.

"Mommy come look at the cute doggy!!!" She squealed at her mother who was only a few feet away by now.

"The dog is very cute." Her mother said smiling at me.

Her mother then looked up at me and spoke, "sorry about her, she loves dogs and she pets one every chance she gets."

"It's okay, Bo likes attention anyways." I told her letting out a small chuckle.

"Katie c'mon honey we have to be home soon." Her mother said while looking through her bag.

She handed Katie what looked like some wipes and told her to wipe off her hands. Katie looked up at me once again and spoke, "You were right, he is the nicest dog in the world. Thank you for letting me pet him." She said while wiping off her hands.

"Anytime kiddo." I said while pulling out my phone which was ringing. Katie and her mother walked away as Bo and I walked in the opposite direction. I looked at my phone to see Cayla was calling. She always has something to tell me no matter what time of day it is.

**{Phone Call} [Bold- Michael]** _[Italic- Cayla]_

**Hello**

_\- Hayyy gurl hay, whatcha doin today_

**I'm currently taking Bo for a walk and then I have some school work to do and later I was gonna go see if Luke is working as lame as that sounds.**

_\- He's not_

**What?**

_\- He's not working today._

**Stalker much?**

_\- Yes but no I know that because he tweeted about it._

**How do you know his Twitter?**

_\- I googled his name dumb butt._

**Right.... wait why didn't I think of that?**

_\- Probably because you're too busy imagining him without clothes on._

**Seriously Cayla?**

_\- Whaaat? It's just my assumption._

**Well I mean, you weren't totally wrong.**

_\- whAT_

**Gotta Blast!**

***Hangs Up***

**{End of Phone Call}**

I laugh as I start putting my phone back in my pocket. Less than 5 seconds later it begins ringing again and of course when I look at the caller ID it's Cayla again.

**{2nd Phone Call}**

**Hel-**

_-If you ever hang up on me like that again I will hurt you._

**I don't doubt that.**

_\- Anyways, what the fuck were you saying about you actually picturing Luke naked?_

**I was joking. *laughs***

_\- Buuuuut do you have a crush on Luke?_

**Just a little.....**

_\- *Giggles* Oh my gosh I would so ship that!!!! What would your guys ship name be? Lichael? Muke?_

**Muke sounds nice. Better than the other one at least.**

_-Muke it is. I ship it already._

**Of course you do.**

_\- Anyways, I need to go to Hot Topic later for some shit..... Wanna come with?_

**I have school work to fin-**

_\- Screw school work, you're coming with me._

**But-**

_\- No but's, I'll pick you up at 2._

**Why even ask if you're gonna force me anyway?**

_\- I wanted to seem like a nice person for a couple seconds._

**Of course you did.**

_\- Oh don't act like you aren't excited to see me._

**I'm not.**

_\- I'll take you to F.Y.E._

**Alright fine, See you at 2.**

_\- See yah._

**{End of Phone Call}**

By now me and Bo had made it to the park that is down the road from our house. We normally walk all the way around the park and then head back home but since today I was feelin kinda lazy I decided we would just walk to the store down the block from the park and then go back home. At least I'll be able to get a little school work done before Cayla comes to pick me up.

As we walked around one side of the park to get to the store, we waved at some people who we normally see whenever we take walks. When we got to the store I grabbed Bo's leash out of my pocket and latched it onto his collar. After I tied him to the bike rack right outside the store, I went inside to buy some snacks since I haven't been grocery shopping for a while. As I walked through the aisles with a basket, I picked up some gummy bears, popcorn, cake mix, and some Arizona's. Cayla has a serious obsession with Arizona's and I know when she comes to pick me up she's gonna raid my fridge so might as well have something she likes in there.

**~**

The doorbell rang while I was working on my school stuff and it was only 1:15 so I was confused as to who would be at my front door. I got up and when I opened the front door, somehow I wasn't surprised when I saw Cayla standing there with a pizza box.

"Hi, I brought food" She said walking inside.

"I see that.... what happened to picking me up at 2?" I said grabbing the pizza box and taking to the kitchen.

"Well..... I was bored and hungry so I thought I'd buy pizza and just come by early." She said while grabbing plates from the cabinet.

"Oh, well I was working on my essay for school.... you know cause some of us actually do our homework." I said while getting plates out of the dishwasher.

"Whatever." She said while rolling her eyes.

"Hey do you have anything to drink?" She asked walking towards the fridge.

"Yeah I bought you an Arizona earli-" I tried to say.

"YOU BOUGHT ME ARIZONA THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU" She said while literally tackling me.

After that we ate pizza and watched some TV. Keeping Up With The Kardashians was the only decent show on at the moment but we quickly got sick of that.

"It's already like 1:45 should we just go now?" I asked getting up and putting the plates in the sink.

"I guess yeah."

I poured Bo some food and refilled his water bowl in case he got hungry or thirsty. I put my shoes on and made sure my hair looked decent because normally it's a freakin mess.....

"Ready to go?" Cayla asked as I walked back into the living room struggling to get my hair to stay how I wanted it.

"Mmmmmhm just about..." I said while combing through my hair a final time.

**~**

Once we got into Cayla's car, she let me choose the music we listened to. I changed the radio station to one of the local ones I always listen to even though it's all just really overplayed songs.

Both of us were humming along to the songs they were playing and Cayla was casually drumming on the steering wheel every chance she got. The radio host announced that in a few minutes they were going to play a new song for the very first time.

This didn't mean much to me until a couple minutes later I heard him say "This is 5 Seconds of Summer's She Looks So Perfect!"

Well that sure isn't an overplayed one....

"Did he just say?" I said thinking I was just hearing things.

"He definitely said 5 Seconds of Summer." Cayla responded

"I thought they weren't that big of a band?" I asked.

"That's what I thought... I guess that won't last for long." She said reaching to turn up the volume.

We listened to the entire song and it was really, really good. Towards the end we started to catch onto the lyrics and we could kind of sing along but anyways, it was amazing.

" _I can't believe how talented and beautiful Luke is._ " I thought to myself.

**~**

Once we got to the mall, we drove through the parking lot at least twice before just settling on random spot literally a half a mile away from the mall. Okay maybe I'm exaggerating but it was a long ass walk to the entrance. Once we actually got into the mall we walked in the direction of Hot Topic since we both wanted to look at merch. I hate going into stores with merch and stuff because then I want to buy everything and I don't have enough money to buy it all. We walked around in there for around 10 minutes before Cayla came up to me.

"Mike Mike Mike, look who just walked in!!!" She whisper screamed.

I looked up towards the entrance of the store and saw a tall, blonde, blue eyed boy. I doubt this is going to end well at all.

"Oh my god" I said mostly to myself.

"Let's go to F.Y.E and wait til he leaves here yeah?" I asked not certain that this was the place I wanted to run into Luke.

"But you have a crush on him!!! It's adorable just go say hi!" She urged on.

"I don't think I can right now. I'll talk to him some other day." I said starting towards the exit.

Only then Cayla decided to purposely push me towards Luke causing me to trip and smash right into him.

There's no way this is gonna end well.....  


	4. Chapter 3

March 29th

*Luke's POV*

Since I didn't have work today all the boys were dragging me to the mall. On the way to the mall Ashton was switching radio stations quickly and I thought I'd heard something but I decided not to say anything. That is, until a few seconds later when my curiosity got the best of me and I told him to slowly scroll back a few so I could figure out what I heard.

"Why?-" He said while scrolling back and landing on the exact station.

Our song was playing on the radio.

"OH MY GOD" Ashton screamed excitedly.

We've never heard ourselves on the radio until now and it's pretty awesome.

"This is awkward guys can we listen to something else?" Calum asked from his seat next to me.

"Why this is so cool!" I said confused.

"I don't know I just find it weird hearing our songs on the radio." He said looking out the window.

"Weirdo." I said while messaging someone back on my phone.

**~**

Once we got into the mall we went straight for the food court since it was around lunch time and none of us had eaten yet. Ashton and Calum chose the Chinese restaurant because we all enjoy Chinese food more than anything. After we got our food we found a table in the sea of people in the food court. As we ate it seemed like the food court was clearing out a bit which was nice. I finished my food before the other boys so I was just scrolling through my twitter for a bit and tweeting some fans back. A lot of fans were tweeting me that they heard our song on the radio too which was pretty cool. Once the boys finished eating we all got up and threw our trash away. I had to go to the bathroom so I told the boys I would just meet them in Hot Topic.

**~**

As I walked out of the bathroom I saw a boy who looked familiar but I couldn't figure out where I knew him from. Seconds later I realized it was Michael. When I'd first seen him yesterday I was confused as to how I could still speak. He was so beautiful. I don't normally remember customers but him... I wanted to remember him.

" _Luke quit thinking like that about Michael, you hardly know him.._ " I thought to myself.

I watched as he walked into Hot Topic and I followed since all the boys were most likely still in there anyway. When I entered the store I tried to ignore the fact that I was once again in the same room as Michael. I walked around and looked at some of the shirts and stuff they had hanging on the shelves but I couldn't help it to look back at Michael every once in awhile and just watch him look over the shirts on the wall. I tried my best to keep my eyes off him and just mind my own business but it was hard to ignore someone as breathtaking as him.

I had managed to keep my eyes off him for a couple minutes until someone ran into me. When I looked down at the person who was now on the floor I saw Michael.

"Oh my god Michael are you okay?" I said worriedly while reaching my hand out to help him up.

He hesitated but grabbed my hand.

"Yeah s-sorry I uhm tripped on a shirt someone left on the floor." He said as I pulled him up.

"Sorry I kinda hit you when I fell." He added on.

"It's okay i'm just glad you aren't hurt." I said smiling.

"Why'd you remember my name?" He asked me after a minute.

"I remember a cute face when I see one." I said while mentally screaming at myself. What if he isn't even gay and i'm just creeping him out by hitting on him?

"Thanks I guess." He said slightly blushing.

I was somehow hoping I could keep this conversation going on forever just so I could listen to Michael's voice. Right when I thought this, my phone rang. I looked down at my phone and frowned slightly before looking back up at him.

"Sorry my boss is calling, I gotta take this. See yah around?" I said smiling up at him.

"Yeah sure." He said smiling back.

I walked out of the store to answer my phone since there was loud music playing in the store. I frowned as I answered my phone and on the inside I wished it actually was my boss.

Thing is, it wasn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Left you guys with a bit of a mystery there. Please let me know what you guys thought of these few chapters I worked really hard on them and I'm really proud of them. It would mean a lot to hear your guys' feedback and questions if any. My Twitter is charliccox and my Instagram is lgbtqhood. Again thank you guys so much for reading I love you all. - Mia :)


	5. Chapter 4

April 3rd

*Michael's POV*

***A Few Days Later***

Today has been quite interesting if I do say so myself. Earlier I was sitting on the couch scrolling through Twitter and I had found Luke's account and followed him. Minutes later he followed me back and my heart had skipped a beat. Ever since the Hot Topic incident 4 days ago I haven't gone to Starbucks to try to see him just because I figured it'd be awkward.

Now I'm sitting on the couch watching Orange Is The New Black and stuffing my face with popcorn. My phone which was on the table in front of me, made the noise it makes when I have a new Twitter notification. I paused the TV and picked up my phone to read the little message on my lock screen.

_"Message from @Luke5SOS: Hey I'm pretty sure this is the same cute Michael whom I had a conversation with at Hot Topic the other day??"_

_"Did he really just call me cute?"_ I thought to myself both surprised and slightly confused.

I unlocked my phone while thinking about how I would reply considering I doubt he actually thinks I'm cute.

**To @Luke5SOS:** If you mean the Michael who tripped and almost killed you on my way down then yeah that's me.

_From @Luke5SOS:_ You didn't almost kill me on the way down I told you it's fine.

**To @Luke5SOS:** If you say so.

_From @Luke5SOS:_ Anyway if you aren't busy I was wondering if you could come by Starbucks tomorrow during my break and we could talk.

**To @Luke5SOS:** Talk?

_From @Luke5SOS:_ I don't know, just get to know each other better I guess?

**To @Luke5SOS:** That's starting to sound like a date...

_From @Luke5SOS:_ If you want a date, I'll give you a date.

**To @Luke5SOS:** I wouldn't mind.

_From @Luke5SOS:_ Okay but like we have a better connection than my internet right now so whats your number...?

**To @Luke5SOS:** That was clever wow where'd you find that one? iFunny?

_From @Luke5SOS:_ No. ok maybe. IT DoEsN'T MATteR JUSt QuiT MAKing ME SUFfEr AND givE Me yOUR NuMbER.

Moments after I sent Luke my number I received a text from none other than Luke.

_From Unknown:_ Hey cutie ;)

I added him as a contact under 'Lukey' because it sounds cute and y'know, the little crush I had on him.

**{Bold- Michael}** _{Italic- Luke}_

**\- Quit calling me cute you dork :p**

_Why you're adorable!_

**\- StoP it.**

_NeVER._

**\- ugH**

_From Lukey:_ Sooooo, can you come visit me during my break?

**\- I have work tomorrow but depends... when is your break?**

_12:25-12:55pm_

**\- Yeah I can stop by, my lunch is around that time too.**

_Perfect. Looking forward to seeing you :)_

_**-** _ **Yeah you too :))**

**{End of Texts}**

How was I so in love with someone I hardly know?

**~**

***The Next Day***

***Luke's POV***

The day seemed like it was going by slower than ever. Minutes seemed like hours and I felt like the clock was never going to reach 12:25. I tried to keep myself from looking at the clock hoping it would make the time go faster but it didn't help very much. I just couldn't wait to see Michael. I wanted to take him to my place but I'm afraid the boys will say something they shouldn't. I feel terrible for keeping a secret from him but I don't want to hurt anybody.

**~**

We had gotten so busy that I didn't realize it was already 12:15.

"Luke if you want I can take over and you can go on your break early." Said Rachel while preparing somebody's coffee next to me.

She's worked here longer than I have and she's the only friend I've made since working here.

"I only have 10 minutes left I think I can manage but thank you anyways." I said declining her offer as much as I wanted to accept it.

"Luke you've looked super anxious all morning just go do whatever you gotta do. If boss asks I'll make something up." She said smiling.

"Thank you. You're the best." I said hugging her before speed walking to the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, I checked my hair and made sure I looked at least decent.

Even though this wasn't an actual date I still thought it was a little important mostly because I don't really know him and I really wanted to make a good first/third impression on him. The fact that I really just thought up the term "third impression" already gives me a feeling this isn't gonna go well.

How am I so in love with a stranger?

**~**

As the minutes went by I was becoming more and more nervous. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I quickly took it out and saw the message was from Michael.

**From Michael:** Hey I'm on my way over. Sorry I'm a little late, I lost track of time.

**To Michael:** It's okay :) it's only 12:29 anyways. We still have time.

After that I didn't get a reply so I assume he was driving. I was scratching at the wristband I was wearing, I tend to do that when i'm nervous. Right now the crowd inside was starting to clear which was nice. I decided to wait outside for him since it was a really nice day and there was a lot less people out here.

I had zoned out and I was just staring at my shoes until I heard a voice come from beside me.

"Hey stranger."

I turned to see Michael smiling down at me. I got up from my seat and said greeted him.

Honestly it was so awkward I didn't think I should hug him so I just had my hands buried in my pockets wow this already isn't going well.

"Do you want to go inside or stay out here? Do you want anything?" I already felt like I couldn't shut up.

"Outside is okay and I don't want anything but thank you." He said smiling.

"So what should we talk about to get to know each other better?" He asked.

"We could play 20 questions." I responded.

"I suck at 20 questions." He said laughing.

"C'mon I'll ask all the questions, all you have to do is answer." I said smiling at him.

"Okay fine." He said while sitting down.

**~**

"Okay last question, favorite show on Netflix?" I asked Michael.

"Hmmmm, OH UH Orange Is The New Black." He said excitedly.

"I've never watched that." I said.

"YOU WHAT." He yelled confused.

"I've never seen it." I said awkwardly.

"Okay you're coming over and we're watching it." He said in a jokingly strict way.

"Sounds great. When?" I asked curiously.

"Well what time do you get off work?" He asked.

"Six thirty." I replied frowning a bit.

"Are you free after then?" Michael asked.

"Of course." I responded smiling.

"Luke your break was over 5 minutes ago, get back to work." I heard my boss say from the door.

"Sorry sir I lost track of time, I'll be right in." I said before turning back toward the gorgeous boy in front of me.

"Well I gotta go but I'm looking forward to seeing you later." I smiled and got up from my seat.

"I'll text you my address later and we can just meet at my house." He said happily.

"Okay." I smiled. "I already miss you." I added.

"Oh shut it." He laughed while getting in his car.

I walked back inside and thought about what I had just agreed to. I'm going to be having a Netflix marathon with Michael in HIS house TONIGHT.

If I'm being honest, I can't wait.

**~**

**From Michael:** My address is 726 Cerro Gordo St. :) Do you know where that is?

\- Yeah me and my band only live a couple blocks away.

**From Michael:** Oh cool. So see yah tonight.

-See yah

**~**

***Michael's POV***

I had gotten off work at 5:30 so I had an extra hour or so before Luke came over. I made a quick stop at the store because I was running low on drinks and a few other things. Afterwards I went home and just cleaned the place up a bit and made sure the house looked okay. I figured if Luke gets hungry we can just order a pizza or something because I'm not very good at making anything. I hope maybe one day I could practice and eventually get to make dinner for him.

I am so in love with Luke.

Earlier when we met up the time flew by and before I knew it we were both back to work. I don't understand why I miss him so much and how I could love him so much. I'm basically letting a stranger into my house. I'm not even completely sure that he likes me in the way I like him! He's probably straight anyway. He's so gorgeous though I mean I wouldn't be surprised if he had girls all over him everywhere he went.

" _He's never gonna love you Michael._ " Said the voice in my head that simply wouldn't go away.

Maybe this was a bad idea. How was inviting Luke over to my house ever going to end well.

Right when I was about to call Cayla and ask her for advice, the doorbell rang. I guess I'd been thinking and cleaning a lot longer than I thought. I opened the door to a happy and smiley Luke.

"Hey, come on in." I said.

"Nice place." He said after walking in and looking around a bit.

"Than-" I was cut off by Bo running and jumping up on Luke.

"Bo down." I said strictly.

He jumped down and sat.

"Luke this is Bo and Bo this is Luke." I said chuckling.

"Hi boy, you're a real cutie just like your owner." He said looking up at me and giggling.

Luke giggling had just became my favorite sound in the world.

He continued making kissy faces at Bo and petting him while I walked back to the kitchen.

"Hey Luke you hungry?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm starving." He responded.

"Does pizza sound okay?" I asked.

"Pizza sounds great." He said.

**~**

While we waited for the pizza we listened to music and basically had a two person dance party. We sang at the top of our lungs and just had fun.

As we plopped down on the couch sometime later we were both breathing heavy and laughing.

"That was the most active I've ever been in my entire life." Said Luke laughing.

I looked at him and just stared at him. His eyes are so beautiful and he himself is so beautiful. He had been looking at the ceiling and his breathing was finally starting to steady itself. He turned his head to look at me and we both got lost in each other's eyes. We were already sitting only inches away from each other but somehow Luke managed to scoot close enough to where we were no longer apart at all.

"You're so beautiful." I whispered.

"You're even more beautiful." He said back quietly before leaning in more towards me.

We both leaned in to where our lips were barely touching and right when I was about to actually move in and kiss him, the doorbell rang.

"Ugh." I groaned while getting up to open the door.

Of course it was the pizza man. I quickly payed him, took the pizza, and thanked him before closing the door and hurrying back to the couch. I dropped the pizza on the coffee table and sat back in my spot insanely close to Luke.

"The pizza can wait." I said before leaning in and kissing Luke.

Soon enough I was laying on my back and Luke was on top of me. That one kiss may have kinda led to a makeout session. I felt like I'd already known Luke for so many years and in reality I hardly knew him at all. At the moment my brain didn't seem to care about that too much. All I wanted was to be able to remember what it feels like to kiss Luke in case I never get to experience it again.

_I hope more than anything, that I get to experience it again._

After a while Luke pulled away and spoke, "Babe as much as I already love kissing you, i'm starving and the smell of pizza isn't helping. Can we please eat?"

Did he just call me babe?

"Of course." I told him.

We both sat back up and while Luke went to get some plates, I turned the tv on and hooked up my laptop so it was on the big screen. Once Luke came back we started eating and watching Netflix. This night honestly couldn't get any better.

**~**

Once we had both finished eating we just snuggled up on the couch and watched the show together. After about 8 episodes I heard quiet snoring coming from Luke, I guess he had fallen asleep. I looked at the clock I had on the wall and it was 3:17AM.

"Luke, wake up." I said quietly.

"Hmm" He groaned while moving a bit.

"It's 3am, do you wanna stay here for the night?" I asked.

"Mmmhm." He mumbled.

I got up off the couch and picked him up and carried him to my bedroom and placed him on the bed. I figured I could just sleep on the couch so he could have the bed to himself.

"I'll be on the couch if you need anything." I told him even though he was probably already asleep.

I pulled the covers up to his shoulders and walked to the door. I turned the light off and went back to the living-room to set up my bed for the night. I went to the closet in the hallway and got out some blankets and an extra pillow I kept in there. As I was putting the blankets on the couch I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Luke frowning behind me.

"Luke? What's wrong?" I asked while walking towards him.

"I want you to sleep in the bed too. I want to cuddle with you and fall asleep in your arms." He said while playing with the ring on his finger.

"I came out here because I figure you'd be uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed as me." I replied.

He shook his head.

"Okay we can both sleep in the bed, let me just put this stuff back in the closet then I'll be in there." I said before kissing him on the cheek.

"Okay." He said smiling.

As I walked down the hall to put the blankets back Luke called me.

"Babe?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you care if I sleep in only my boxers?"

_Oh my god is this actually happening?_

"Go for it, I sleep in only my boxers too." I said letting out a small laugh.

***Luke's POV***

As I undressed I just thought of how wrong this is. I'm keeping a secret from him and if he finds out and I hurt him, I'm never going to be able to forgive myself. I grabbed my phone which had magically appeared on the nightstand and I got into bed. I scrolled through Twitter a little bit while I waited for Michael to come to bed.

Soon enough I felt the bed move beside me and an arm wrap around my waist. I put my phone back on the night stand and scooted more towards Michael so his chest was against my back.

"Goodnight Michael." I said smiling even though he couldn't see me.

"Goodnight Luke." He said back.

And with that I fell asleep in his arms and I couldn't be happier.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Heeeey guys I've been in LA all week it was sooo amazing and I already miss it. I met Vicki Vantoch and her two kids which was sooooo cool. (They're Misha Collins' family if you don't know.) Also if you don't know, last week I posted this fic on Wattpad and Movellas too if you guys would rather read it there :) Hope you guys had a great week. Enjoy the chapter :) Love you guys.
> 
> Wattpad & Movellas: @lgbtqhood

April 10th

*Third Person POV*

It's been a week since Luke stayed over at Michael's house and since then he's stayed over almost every night. Today Calum is throwing a party to celebrate finishing their album. They finished recording a few days ago and Calum just needed an excuse to throw a party. Michael was nervous since he'd only met Calum that one time he came to buy a record and even then he didn't know who he was.

**~**

***Arriving to the Party***

***Luke's POV***

As we pulled up to the 5SOS house I became nervous. What if the boys don't like Michael? What if they accidentally bring up the wrong thing and ruin my relationship with him? What if Michael hates them? I just can't help but worry that they're all gonna hate him. As we walked to the front door I held his hand in mine and said, "I'm sure they'll love you."

Michael smiled weakly and we walked inside.

***Calum's POV***

Luke had told me that he was bringing one of his friends that he met at his job or something. I was in the livingroom on the couch when they walked in and when I looked over at them I noticed they were holding hands.

Isn't Luke already involved with someone?

I mean it's safe to assume he likes girls and boys but last I checked he was still in a relationship....

I'll have to ask him later when his friend leaves.

"Guys come meet Michael!!!" Luke said excitement clear in his voice.

I got up from the couch and Ashton walked in from the kitchen.

"This is Michael." He told us once again.

"Hey you're that guy who works at the record store." I said once actually seeing his face.

"Yeah thats me." Michael replied.

"Hi I'm Ashton, the nice one in the group." Said Ashton from where he was standing next to me.

We all laughed.

"Hi I'm Calum, you can call me Cal or C Dizzle. I'm joking please don't call me C Dizzle." I said and laughed.

Michael stood there awkwardly and nodded his head.

"Guys this place doesn't look very party ready..." Luke said looking around.

"We're working on it." Ashton and I said while returning to our spots in the kitchen and on the couch.

This should be an interesting night....

**~**

***During the Party***

***Third Person POV***

There was at least 60 people here and the music was playing so loud nobody could talk over it. Calum had basically turned their house into a nightclub. He had gone to a party store and bought several disco balls that he had placed all around the house. The party had only been going on for about half an hour and it didn't look like it was going to end any time soon. Calum was flirting with some girls in the livingroom and Ashton was still in the kitchen stuffing his face with chips and soda.

**~**

To make things even better, Calum had ordered 20 pizzas for the party. He'd probably eaten a whole one by himself already. Now Calum had moved into the gym room and was lifting weights while girls surrounded him and touched his muscles. Luke and Michael however were mixed in with the sea of people all over the house. They stayed together though, Luke didn't want Michael to get hurt it the crowd. Over half the people at this party were already drunk off their asses and everyone was acting like dumbasses.

"L-Luke can I g-go to your room?" Michael asked Luke about an hour into the party.

"Sure babe....Is everything alright?" Luke asked him worriedly.

"Y-eah it's-just all th-ese pe-people are making me n-nervous." He told Luke.

The only reason they could actually hear each other is because they were so close together and not as close to the speakers as everyone else. Luke held Michael's hand and led him upstairs to his bedroom so they could just get away from the crowd for a while.

Once in Luke's room he locked the door just so no one would bother them. They both laid down on his bed and just cuddled for a while. To make Michael feel a little better, Luke was showering him in kisses and it was actually helping a lot. They just laid there with soft, calm music playing from Luke's phone on the nightstand. Michael felt better almost instantly. Luke made him feel so comfortable and safe..

**~**

Meanwhile downstairs Calum was standing at the front door panicking, mostly because he'd just opened the door to Luke's current girlfriend, Aleisha.

"Hey Aleisha, what are you doing here...? I thought you were back in Australia celebrating your mom's birthday?" Calum managed to get out.

"Yeah I was but I decided to come back earlier than I had planned to surprise Luke." She said smiling.

Oh no.....

"He's here somewhere I don't know where but I haven't seen him in a while he might've left." He said still panicking.

Aleisha came inside and looked around for Luke for a couple minutes until she decided to make her way upstairs. As much as Calum wanted to warn Luke or try to stop her, he didn't know how.

***Third Person POV***

Luke and Michael had both fallen asleep. They didn't mean to fall asleep but cuddling and listening to soft music had made them tired. Luke had woken up because of somebody knocking on the door but figured it was just one of the boys so he tried to ignore it but it would not stop. Finally he gave in and crawled out of bed trying not to wake Michael. His attempt was unsuccessful so now Mike was also awake and annoyed. Luke rubbed his eyes as he walked over to the door and once he opened it, he probably wished this was a nightmare.

"Aleisha?" He said barely being able to hide the sad tone in his voice.

"Surprise babe! I came home early to surprise you." She said before kissing him.

Luke couldn't move. Michael had sat up when he first said Aleisha's name and everything he'd seen in those few seconds caused him more pain than he could ever imagine. Michael was about to get up and put his shoes on so he could leave but stopped when Aleisha spoke again.

"Luke who's he....?" She said borderlining anger and confusion.

"That's my uhm boyfriend....Michael." Luke said frowning.

"Luke.. who's she?" Michael barely got out.

Even though the answer was already pretty obvious Michael had to hear Luke say it.

"My girlfriend....Aleisha." Luke said with tears welling up in his eyes.

Luke knew how this was gonna end.

Michael quickly threw on his shoes and then he was gone.

"Michael wait!" Luke shouted but Michael didn't stop running.

Before Luke knew it, he'd lost him in the crowd.

Michael wasn't really sure how he was going to get home since Luke had picked him up and drove him here earlier. He could walk but for some reason, he didn't want to go home. He wanted to hide. He decided he'd call Cayla, it wasn't too late and she was always awake anyway.

**~**

Minutes later Cayla pulled up at the park down the block, the same park Michael and Bo had walked to the other day. He had just walked there because he didn't want to just stand in front of Luke's house. He still couldn't believe this was actually happening.

***Michael's POV***

The second I got into Cayla's car I broke out into tears. I didn't even care that she was sitting right next to me. I can't stop thinking about what happened back there, Luke introduced me to HIS girlfriend.

**_{Flashback to a Couple Days Ago}_ **

**_"Hey Luke?"_ **

**_"Yeah babe?"_ **

**_"What are we?" I asked._ **

**_"Huh?" He said confused._ **

**_"Like are we boyfriends or just friends?" I explained my question._ **

**_"Hmmm I like the sound of you being my boyfriend...." He said smirking a little._ **

**_"I could say the same about you." I said before kissing him._ **

**_He broke away from the kiss and spoke, "wait, let me do this properly."_ **

**_"Michael, will you be my boyfriend?" He asked showing that beautiful smile of his._ **

**_"Of course." I said before kissing him again._ **

**_{End of Flashback}_ **

I just wanted to go to bed and forget all of this but Luke wasn't making that easy.

**From Lukey:** Mikey please come back, I can explain.

**From Lukey:** I'm worried about you where are you?

**From Lukey:** Please Michael if you let me explain you'd understand just please.

**From Lukey:** God I hope you're okay I feel like shit for hurting you. I swear I never meant for this to happen just please let me explain.

I didn't reply to any of his messages. Right now I don't want anything to do with him, one day I'll forgive him just not today. When we got to Cayla's house I went to the guest room and I passed out instantly.

***Third Person POV***

Luke was worried sick about Michael and he knows it was his fault this happened but he has an explanation. He just wishes Mike would let him explain. He decided to explain over text and just hope he sees it.

**To Mikey:** Mikey, I can't tell you how sorry I am for hurting you. Let me explain, Aleisha is my girlfriend but I don't love her, I haven't for a while now. I was trying to figure out my sexuality and feelings for her but then I met you and all my feelings for her washed away. Ever since you and me met I've been planning to break up with her but she's been in Australia for the last month and I wanted to wait ti'l she got back to do it in person. I broke up with her a couple minutes ago. I only love you Michael. I'm sorry this happened and it seems like I betrayed you, I know. I'll never be able to apologize enough. Just please, give me one more chance I promise I'll treat you right and I'll never hurt you. Just please. I've only known you for a couple weeks and you are my life. I love you so much I hope you understand.

**To Mikey:** I love you more than anything.

**~**

That night both boys cried themselves to sleep, one of them wishing they had never met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So you guys finally know what Luke has been hiding. Do you think Luke did the right thing? Should he have broken up with Aleisha over the phone? Please comment or tweet me what you think of this chapter I love reading the comments :) Also for all the 5SOS fam reading this who do know who Aleisha is please know, I love her and if her character ever does anything that sounds rude just know, it's only a character. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :) See yah next Friday! Love you guys.
> 
> Twitter & Instagram: @lgbtqhood


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Woooooo this story is going by so fast but don't worry when its over I'm hoping to start posting my next fic the week after this ends. Also I'm beginning the process of writing a malum fic with my best friend so I have no idea when that'll be up but hopefully soon. Anyway I love you all I hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)<3

April 11th

*Third Person POV*

When Michael woke up the next morning he didn't see Luke's message, he didn't even look at his phone. He rolled out of bed and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Cayla was sitting at the dining table with her laptop in front of her.

"Hey are you hungry? I can make something if you want." She said.

"I'm not hungry."

"Okay, well I wanted to tell you that you can stay for as long as you want, I don't mind." She said smiling.

"Thanks but I think I'm gonna go home." He said while grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

"Want me to drive you?" She asked, remembering his car is at home.

"No it's okay, I can get an Uber or something I don't know I'll figure it out." He said sitting in the chair next to Cayla.

"Don't be stupid, I can drive you." She said typing something into her laptop.

"Can we go now? I have some stuff to do." He said stretching the wristband that was around his wrist.

"Sure." She said while getting up and closing her laptop.

~

*In The Car*

"Have you uhm talked to Luke?" Cayla asked nervously trying not to upset Mike.

"Not since the party last night." Michael said looking down at his phone for the first time since the party.

17 New Messages From Lukey

He didn't think Luke cared anymore. He didn't know if he even wanted him to. He read Luke's texts one by one, but he only had time to read a few before they were on the street he lived on.

"Mike who's car is that in front of your house?" Cayla asked as they neared his house.

"T-that's Luke's c-car." Michael said surprised.

As they pulled up they saw Luke sitting on the doorstep.

"Do you want me to stay incase something happens?" Cayla asked after seeing Luke too.

"No, I think I can handle this." He said opening the door and stepping out.

"Thanks for the ride." He said before closing the door and walking towards Luke.

Cayla drove off so Michael and Luke were left alone.

*Michael's POV*

"Michael where have yo-"

"What are you doing here?" I said cutting him off.

"Last night I was worried about you and I came here and you didn't answer the door or my texts so I stayed and waited for you I'm sorry I was just w-worried I'm sorry." Luke told me, his eyes beginning to water.

"Please go home." I told him calmly.

"Do you h-hate me?" He asked me, a tear running down his cheek.

"No Luke I don't hate you I'm just hurt. Why would you ask me to be your boyfriend if you already have a girlfriend?" I asked, feeling my heart break all over again as I said it out loud.

"D-did y-you read m-my texts?" He asked while rubbing his arms probably from being cold.

"Only a couple but not many." I said pulling my phone out of my pocket.

"I uhm explained and apologized.." Luke said sounding nervous.

"Oh." Was all I said.

"Do you wanna come inside? You can explain again if want." I said while grabbing the keys out of my pocket.

"Y-yeah I'm freezing." He said trying to warm himself up.

It's only March and it's still cloudy and cold as hell here.

"By the way Luke, how long have you been here?" I asked curiously.

"All night." He responded while sitting on the couch.

"It got really cold last night so I stayed in my car and waited for you to come home. I just wanted to make sure you got home safe." He added while grabbing the blanket that was hanging over the side of the couch.

"Oh my god, why didn't you go home?" I asked surprised at what he'd just told me.

"I needed to make sure you were safe." He responded.

I sat down next to him and tried to think of what to say.

"Luke please explain to me why you were with me and her at the same time...." I said while scooting closer to him and holding his hand to show him I still trusted him.

I really miss him.

"Me and Aleisha....we've been together for a couple months and I really did love her, before I met you I'd started realizing I like boys and I don't like girls as much anymore. Then I met you and I instantly fell in love. After I got to know you I was planning on breaking up with Aleisha but she's been in Australia for the past month and I was gonna wait until she got back because I felt rude doing it over the phone. Then when you asked me if we were boyfriends, I just went couldn't help but officiate it with you and I wasn't thinking about the fact that I hadn't broken up with Aleisha yet. I'm so sorry. I promise I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you, only you. I promise. Before I came here last night I broke up with her, if you forgive me it'll just be me and you. If you don't want to forgive me, I completely under-"

He was shaking and in tears.

I pulled him into a hug and said "Luke, I forgive you it's okay."

"I-i'm sorry." He said crying into my shoulder.

"Lukey it's okay I promise. I love you." I said while running my hand up and down his back trying to calm him down.

"I love you too." He said back.

~

We were cuddled up on the couch watching a movie and Luke had fallen asleep. I ran my fingers through his hair and planted a small kiss on his forehead.

"I love you." I whispered.

I wrapped my arms around him and listened to his quiet little snores.

He's so cute when he's asleep.

It's only about 1 or 2pm since I'd gotten here around 11. Earlier Luke had told me that he didn't sleep at all last night because he was worried about me. I felt terrible that because of me he slept in his car, froze to death, and didn't get any sleep. As much as I wanted to stay here and nap with Luke, I have school work that has to be turned in by midnight and I'm nowhere near done. I somehow slid out from under Luke without waking him up.

~

*About an Hour Later*

*Luke's POV*

I woke up and remembered I was in Michael's house but he was nowhere to be seen. I slowly got up and walked to the kitchen and after no sign on him I went to the hallway and called out for him.

"Mikey??" I said probably sounding scared like someone in a horror movie.

"I'm in the office Luke." I heard him say from down the hall.

I'm really glad he forgave me for what happened. I really didn't mean to hurt him but I just couldn't help but fall in love with him. I feel bad for hurting Aleisha too but she made me realize who I am and what I like. I'm so lucky to have Michael in my life. Ever since I met him I've just been so happy, he makes me happy.

I walked into his office to see him sitting at his desk, I guessed he's working on something for school. When I walked in, he spun his chair around and smiled at me.

"Hi." I said looking down at him.

"Hi baby." He said reaching for my hand.

I love when he holds my hand, it really is the most simple action but I love it.

He pulled me down onto his lap, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me on the cheek.

"Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Then he kissed me.

"Hey Luke, you told me you were here all night so does that mean you haven't eaten anything?" He asked looking slightly worried.

"Not since pizza last night at the party." I said frowning.

"Let's go get you something to eat." He said while lifting me up off his lap and getting up.

~

*After Dinner*

"Babe babe babe babe babe babe." I said while hugging Michael from behind.

"Hmm?"

"CAN WE MAKE COOKIES? I LIKE BAKING AND COOKIES ARE GREAT." I said enthusiastically.

"Sure." He said before kissing me on the cheek.

~

"Hey Luke can you pass me the eggs?" Mike asked me.

I didn't move or respond, I just held in a laugh.

"Luke?" He asked before turning around.

I had been holding a bowl of flour that is now all over him.

"HA HA I GOT YOU!" I said laughing.

He tried to walk around me to grab eggs and blocked him.

He shook his head around which made all the flour on his head fly around in the air and get on me too.

"HEY!" I said while trying to avoid getting covered with even more flour.

I was distracted just long enough for him to sneak past me and grab a hand full of eggs.

Before I could even try to run, an egg was being cracked on my head.

"OW!" I said while rubbing the spot on my head where I'd been hit.

I stole an egg out of his hand and cracked it on his head and we just went back and forth until we ran out of eggs.

"So much for those cookies." Mikey said while handing me some towels.

"Yeah... we should probably clean this up..." I said about to go and get the mop from the closet.

"We can clean it up later, let's go take a shower first." He said holding my hand and leading me to the shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yay Muke made up!!! Did you think Michael was going to forgive Luke? Since you guys have been so amazing to this story I'm gonna give you a tiny hint about what's gonna happen next... 
> 
> Management decides it's time to get Luke a beard (fake girlfriend) since he's been out with Michael a lot and people are starting to suspect that they're together. But what happens when they don't exactly get a long with his beard? The answer is, drama.


	8. Chapter 7

May 17th

*Luke's POV*

It was Tuesday and Michael had to be at school by 9 today. I didn't even know why I'd woken up so much earlier than him but honestly I didn't mind being awake before him since he looks like such an angel when he's asleep. I could stare at his beauty for hours at a time. It must have been around 5AM when I woke up since the sun hadn't risen much yet.

I had a lot planned for today after Mikey gets out of school around 2. I'm going to take him on a date since we've never really been on one other than that time during my break at Starbucks. Let's not count that one.

I'm planning on taking him to dinner at a really popular restaurant in West Hollywood called The Nice Guy. [Authors Note: I'm aware 2014 Luke didn't go to The Nice Guy anywhere near as much as 2016 Luke does but for the sake of the story, just go with it.] A friend of mine helped me get last minute reservations there, I owe them one. After dinner I'm taking him to the Observatory to watch the sunset. He once told me that the reason he loves sunsets so much is because they calm him down and make him forget the bad in the world. They make him appreciate the good and the beautiful in life. At the end, I'm taking him on a helicopter ride over LA. Hopefully he isn't afraid of heights, I probably should have asked him before I planned this whole thing out. I don't think things through very well. I can't decide if this date is too much or too little and it's making me incredibly nervous. I just want Michael to have an amazing night. He's been so stressed with school work he just needs a night away from homework to relax.

*

After a while I decided to get up and make him breakfast since he'll be up by 7ish to shower then get ready. I went to the kitchen and started preparing him eggs and pancakes because I don't know how to make many other things. I tried not to make noise getting all the things I needed out of the shelves and the fridge but I think I failed pretty badly since no more than 5 minutes later a half asleep Michael stumbled into the kitchen.

"Baby did I wake you? I'm sorry." I said putting the carton of eggs back in the fridge.

"It's okay, you didn't wake me I just had a bad dream and didn't wanna go back to sleep." He told me.

"Aw I'm sorry I wasn't there when you woke up baby." I said frowning and hugging him.

"S'okay, you're here now and that's all that matters." He said.

"I'm here and I'm never leaving." I told him.

He pulled away from the hug and held my hands.

"I love you so much." He said smiling.

"I love you more baby boy." I admitted before kissing him.

Once he pulled away from the kiss he said, "what are you doing up so early anyway?"

"Well I was going to try and make you breakfast but you came and distracted me with your cuteness." I told him.

"Guilty as charged." He said.

"Go get in the shower you dork." I said walking back to the counter.

"Make me." He said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Go shower or I'm not cuddling you tonight." I said.

"I can live without cuddles for one night." He replied.

"But can you handle no cuddles for a week?" I asked him.

"No." He said quietly.

"Was that a 'yes' I heard because if so-" I started.

"NO I NEED YOUR CUDDLES I'M SORRY I'LL GO SHOWER." He said before running to go shower.

"Loser." I said even though he'd already left.

"I HEARD THAT YOU DWEEB." He shouted from down the hall.

I laughed to myself and continued preparing breakfast. I hoped Mikey didn't have any plans for tonight considering I was taking him on that date which he was clueless about. I'm just really hopeful everything goes well and we have an amazing night.

~

*Around 2PM*

*Michael's POV*

I walked out of school and saw a man holding a sign that read 'Mr. Clifford' in big bold letters.

I nervously walked up to him to ask about what was going on.

"Can I help you?" I asked both curious and nervous.

"Are you Mr. Michael Clifford?" He asked.

"Yeah that's me."

"Follow Me." He said walking toward the parking lot.

As sketchy as it sounded, he was dressed pretty nicely and didn't seem shady, so I followed him.

"Where are we going?" I asked starting to feel a little scared.

"I was told not to reveal that information." He said before stopping in front of a black SUV.

He opened the back door and asked me to get in.

I hesitated and was going to tell him I had to go but before I could, he spoke again.

"Would it make you a little less nervous if I told you your boyfriend has something to do with this?" He smiled.

I nodded and laughed.

Only Luke would do something like this.

I got in the car and saw a sticky note stuck to the seat next to me.

~

Mikey,

I'm sure you're very confused right now just know everything is okay and you're safe. You'll see me soon. I know you hate the word soon but just bare with me. You're going to be driven home where you're going to find something to wear. Don't worry you look cute in everything. Just dress casually, nothing too fancy. Take your time. You won't see me for another couple hours. Don't be nervous. I love you. See you soon.

Luke.

~

I know Luke told me not to be nervous but not knowing what this boy has up his sleeve is making me nervous. I started mentally going through my closet trying to decide what to wear. Luke wasn't any help. Casual could mean a lot of things. How casual is the casual that Luke is talking about? I didn't even have time to sort through my closet in my head before we arrived at home. It sucks to live so close to school sometimes.

I hopped out of the car and thanked the driver who told me he'd still be here when I was ready for him to take me to Luke's location. I walked inside and was immediately greeted by Bo. Luke and I have practically moved into each others houses so Bo tends to tag along if I go to Luke's. We spend most of our time together here though, since the rest of the guys live with Luke. It's not as noisy, messy, and crowded here. Sorry guys.

There's 2 drawers in my room of just Luke's clothes that he's either left here or that I've stolen. I like wearing his t-shirts when I'm not with him, it makes me feel safe.

I walked into my bedroom and saw an outfit already laid out for me on my bed. A sticky note resting on the bed next to the clothes.

"I figured you'd probably rip your hair out trying to decide what to wear so I decided for you. You're welcome loser. Love you."

I laughed to myself and smiled trying to figure out how I got so lucky with such a sweetheart like Luke.

Luke must know me pretty well since what he picked is very much what I would have picked.

Good job Luke.

I changed into what Luke had laid out for me and tried to make myself look good. He had chosen a black button up shirt with white polka dots on it and black skinny jeans. After changing, I tried fixing my hair but it was an absolute mess since I just threw on a hat this morning and left for school. Next time a warning would be nice Luke.

I figured at some point it looked okay and I moved on to trying to find a pair of shoes to wear. Luke had left that decision to me and I wish he hadn't. As I was looking through my collection of shoes I spotted another sticky note under my pair of Converse.

"Just wear these you indecisive dork."

"Thanks dweeb." I said even though Luke wasn't actually there.

Once I felt ready and calmed down I prepared myself for what Luke could have planned. Right as I was about to walk out the door I spotted another sticky note stuck to the door.

"Don't forget to feed Bo :)"

"UgH." I groaned to myself.

I walked back to the kitchen and poured Bo some food and fresh water.

"See yah later bud. Wish me luck." I said while petting him on the head.

Then I walked out to the car.

Before I could get in the car, the driver stopped me.

"Mr. Hemmings insisted you wear this." He said handing me a blindfold.

'Kinky' would have been my first thought but Luke knows I don't like not being able to see whats around me.

"He left a note too." The driver added before handing me another sticky note.

"I know you hate not being able to see your surroundings but just trust me on this. You'll be okay, I promise. If you get scared just imagine me sitting right there with you."

I smiled and agreed to the blindfold. I trusted Luke.

After the driver blindfolded me, he helped me into the car. Once he got in and began driving I felt incredibly nervous. I fiddled with my fingers since I couldn't see or do anything else. I decided to just daydream the time away so my nervousness would go away. When I day-dreamed, it was always about Luke. I loved him so much it was unexplainable. Some people may think our relationship is too rushed but with the amount of time Luke and I spend together, it feels like we've known each other all our life. I want to know him all my life. I want to live with him, get married, adopt kids, grow old with him, I wanna do everything with him and nobody else. I probably sound like such an idiot I just can't help it. I love him.

~

Once we got to the destination, the driver helped me onto the sidewalk so I wouldn't trip and make a fool of myself. The first thing I saw when the blindfold was removed was Luke standing in front of the restaurant holding a rose. I smiled and tried not to blush but this boy makes me feel so special I can't control it.

"Hi baby." He said handing me the rose.

"Hi." I responded.

He kissed me and led me to the entrance.

"Reservation for Hemmings." He told the lady who was working at the front.

"Right this way." She said smiling.

She took us to our table which was in a less crowded area of the restaurant thankfully. I don't like eating at restaurant when there's big crowds it scares me.

"I know you don't like eating at crowded restaurants so I decided to bring you here early before the crowds come in." Luke smiled.

"Thank you." I said smiling.

Nobody has ever tried so hard to make a date go this well. Luke putting so much effort into this makes me realize how special he is. I appreciate him so much. He's so kind and generous and he always tries to make everybody happy. He's amazing.

~

After we ate I assumed we were going home since Luke hadn't brought up going anywhere else but when we walked out of the restaurant the driver was still there.

"Luke?" I said.

"Right I forgot to mention this date isn't over yet. Dinner was only the start." He said before I could even ask a question.

"Where are we going now?" I asked curiously.

"It's a surprise. Put this on? Please?" He said holding out the blindfold again.

"Okay. Just for you." I told him before letting him tie it around my head.

He helped me into the car and got in after me. Once we began driving he held my hand and rested his head on my shoulder.

"Are you having fun?" He asked me.

"Of course I'm having fun. I'm always having fun when I'm with you." I said smiling.

If felt so weird not being able to see anything but I wasn't going to complain.

~

Before I knew it we had arrived at our next location. Luke helped me out of the car and led me to wherever we were going. He made me walk up like 2 flights of stairs. Walking up and down stairs is dangerous when blind folded. If Luke hadn't been there to guide me up the stairs I most likely would have embarrassed myself tremendously and like fallen on my face or something. Once we got to what i assumed was the top, Luke took off my blindfold. In front of me I saw the most beautiful sunset I'd ever seen. There was just a couple clouds in the sky that was beautifully colored orange, yellow, pink, and blue. All the lights from the city just made it that much more beautiful.

I turned to Luke amazed, "you remembered."

"I did." He said smiling and holding my hand.

Back when we started dating we were talking about things we like to do and I had told him I love watching sunsets. They calm me down and make me forget the bad in the world. They make me appreciate the good and the beautiful in life. Luke is the good and the beautiful in life. He's more than just good. He doesn't deserve that word, he deserves something more. He deserves the world.

He's my world.

~

Once the sun set completely we stayed for a while to look at the stars and just have fun. We went inside and looked around for a bit until Luke said we had to go. We walked back to the car and set off to our next location.

~

Luke didn't make me wear the blindfold this time around. He said it wouldn't be any use since I'd be able to hear what was around us. When we arrived I realized he was right. We had driven to a spot where a helicopter was picking us up. We got in to the helicopter and the pilot instructed us to put headphones on. It was so loud you couldn't hear a thing. After a couple minutes we finally took off and it was terrifying. I don't mind flying but being able to look down and see how high I am is what gets me. Luke had sat next to the window and I was between him and the pilot but it didn't really help the fact that we were hundreds of feet in the air.

I felt my breathing start to speed up and my vision started to blur.

"Luke-" I started.

"It's okay. You're okay. I'm here. You're safe. Nothing is gonna happen to you I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." He said while holding my hand.

His voice immediately made me calm down. I felt safe when I could hear his voice.

"I love you." He said after a couple seconds.

"I love you more. Thank you for tonight." I said.

"You're welcome baby." He said before kissing me.

"So how's the uh married life?" The pilot chimed in with a smile.

"Oh we arent-" I started.

"Not yet at least." Luke said.

"Oh." Said both me and the pilot.

Luke turned red and covered his face with his hands.

After that, the rest of the ride was silent.

~

*Luke's POV*

I'd fucked up, big time. I told the pilot earlier that me and Michael weren't married yet. What if I scared Michael away because we've only been dating for around a month and I'm already talking about marriage? God I fucking hate myself if I would have just kept my mouth shut everything would have gone perfectly.

*

As me and Mikey walked up to his house I expected him to tell me to leave. We hadn't spoken since the helicopter and I didn't expect us to anytime soon. We walked inside and he went straight to the shower. I sat down on the couch in the living room and cried. I'd just lost the most important person in my life right now.

Once he got out of the shower and came to the kitchen, I approached him.

"Michael? Can we please talk?" I asked him.

"Don't you hate me or something?" He asked.

"Hate you? Why would I hate you?" I asked confused.

"Back in the helicopter you talked about us not being married yet and I didn't so I thought you'd hate me for not having said the same thing you did." He said sitting down at the dining table.

"Baby I don't hate you it's okay if you aren't ready to talk about that kinda stuff its understandable." I said holding his hand that was on the table.

"No I am ready to talk about that stuff I just didn't know if you were and when you said that earlier it kinda took me by surprise I guess." He told me.

"So you don't hate me?" I asked him.

"I could never hate you. I love you and I'll always love you." He said with a big smile on his face.

"I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOOOOO I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED CHAPTER 7 I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT WRITING IT BC I SUCK AND I PROCRASTINATE A LOT BUT ANYWAY I HOPE THE CHAPTER WAS PRETTY GOOD Y'KNOW I JAMMED TO GIRLS TALK BOYS ALL NIGHT TO KEEP MY ASS AWAKE AND I FINALLY DROPPED AROUND 6AM BUT I WOKE UP AT 10 AND FINISHED WRITING AGAIN SO I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THIS CHAPTER. TOMORROW CHAPTER 8 WILL BE POSTED AND THEN NEXT WEEK UPDATES WILL GO BACK TO NORMAL. I LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR BEING SO PATIENT WITH ME. (Also Chapter 8 is a handful so prepare yourselves.) Love you guys :)))) - Mia


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOoooooo chapter 8 is finally here!! Sorry for the delay I fell asleep this morning before I could upload it. In this chapter you guys are gonna meet a character who you most likely all know in real life. Their character is going to be the worst homophobic asshole you've ever met but please remember it's just a character. I have nothing but love for the people I use in this story I promise. Also in this chapter a character uses the word f*g which I apologize for but it's just for the sake of the story. Very very minor but possible trigger warning. I love you all I hope you enjoy this chapter. :)

June 9th

*Michael's POV*

"Babe?" Luke said while walking into the living room.

"Hmmm?" I replied while he plopped down on the couch next to me.

"I'm taking you on another date." He said smiling.

"Oh really?" I said holding his hand in mine.

"Yeah and it's gonna be fun." He said with a proud looking smile.

"If it's Netflix and chill I swear to god Luke." I said laughing a bit.

"Oh my gosh no! I mean that would be fun..... but no I have something else in mind." He said smiling and laughing.

His laugh was one of my favorite sounds in the world. I can't even count how many times each day I make a terrible joke just so I can hear his laugh.

"What exactly are we doing then?" I asked curiously.

"We're seeing a movie, going to an arcade, and after that we're gonna cuddle all night." Luke said with a big smile.

"That sounds great." I said before kissing him on the cheek and pulling him into my lap.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around me.

"I love you." He said before kissing me.

"I love you too."

It was silent for a few minutes before Luke spoke, "M' tired".

He rested his head on my shoulder.

I looked at the clock on the wall and discovered it was only about 2PM.

"Wanna take a nap?" I asked before wrapping my arm around him.

He yawned. "Mhm." Was all I got in response.

I carried him to his bedroom and laid him down on his side of the bed and he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Since it was kinda cold in the house, I pulled a blanket over him then kissed his forehead. I was planning on napping with him but I really wasn't tired at all so I decided to go back downstairs and try to find something for us to eat when he wakes up.

~

Luke and I have been together for about 2 months now and we were already pretty serious. We had a talk the other night before everything went down and Luke kept saying how he felt like he'd known me for so many years. He said he trusts me more than he's ever trusted anyone before. I trust Luke too. I love Luke. He makes me so incredibly happy.

I'm so in love with him.

~

I was so lost in my thoughts that I barely heard the door bell ring. I walked over and opened the door to see Ash standing there looking down at his phone.

"Hi Ashton" I said when he looked up.

"Oh hi Michael, is Luke here? He isn't answering his phone." He asked.

"Yeah he's upstairs sleeping, do you need to talk to him?" I asked while opening the door a bit more so he could come in.

"Both of you actually." He said while walking in.

"Oh, well you can sit down and I'll go wake him up."

Ash nodded and I walked upstairs.

~

"Luke, baby wake up."

Luke groaned.

"C'mon babe Ash is downstairs he needs to talk to you." I said shaking him a little bit.

"Nooooo" He groaned into the pillow.

"Luke c'mon it's important." I said seriously.

"Fine." He said while rolling out of bed.

He was about to walk out of the bedroom when I decided to tell him he probably shouldn't walk out there in just his boxers. He picked up a shirt that was on the floor and quickly threw it on.

"That's my shirt." I pointed out.

"Not anymore." He said while exiting the room and walking downstairs.

I laughed and followed him downstairs.

~

When we got back downstairs I sat on the couch across from Ashton and Luke sat in my lap.

"Luke, management told me they've been calling you all day and you haven't answered your phone so they just told me to come and tell you..." said Michael.

"Tell me what?" Asked Luke nervously.

"Well.... a picture of you and Michael holding hands spread around on social media and a lot of people aren't too happy about it." Ashton said sadly.

"Oh." Was all Luke replied with.

"Management wasn't to happy about it either as you probably already guessed so they hired some model for you to "date" until everyone stops talking about you and Mike....I'm sorry dude."

Luke began to cry.

"Lukey please don't cry." I said while rubbing his back.

He got up from his spot on my lap and ran upstairs.

"I'll go so you guys can talk just make sure Luke calls them back soon so they don't get even more pissed at him."

I nodded and watched as Ashton walked out the door before going upstairs to comfort Luke.

~

*Luke's POV*

I don't want to walk around with some girl I don't even know and have to pretend I'm in love with her. I'm in love with Michael. Why can't management f*cking accept that? I don't care if we lose some god damn fans because I love him and I'm sure as hell not going to pretend to be in love with some girl because of a bunch of homophobic idiots who can't accept that I'm in love with a boy.

~

*The Next Day*

~

June 10th

[Note: Im just gonna pretend the main guys from management is named Steve idfk]

We walked inside and were greeted by Dave, our security. We said hello and continued walking to Steve's office. He was the one who had been pissed about the pictures of me and Mikey going all over the internet. I never really liked Steve to be honest and I don't think he ever really liked me either. I'm not one who likes following the rules.

Michael and I walked into his office and saw a tall, hispanic looking girl who was wearing way too much makeup and a way too revealing outfit. She really wasn't that cute but I didn't really have a say in this anyway.

"Hello Luke, this is Arzaylea, she's the girl you'll be dating until all the rumors die down." Steve said with a smile.

"Hold on what the hell is her name?." I said laughing.

"Arzaylea." The girl said with an obviously fake smile.

"Repeat that one more time for me would you?" I said trying to annoy both Steve and the girl.

"Just call me Z." She said clearly annoyed.

I heard Michael laugh a bit from his spot next to me and I smiled.

"Arzaylea this is Luke and his boyfriend Michael." Steve said sounding annoyed.

"Oh god he's actually gay?!?! I thought this was just for some rumors!" Arzaylea said clearly disgusted.

"Yes I'm gay do you have a f*cking problem with that?" I said quite angry from the way she said that.

"Yes I have a f*cking problem with that you f*g." She said in a bitchy tone.

"What the f*ck makes you think you can talk to him like that?" Said Michael while stepping towards her.

"Enough." Said Steve even though I don't think anyone listened.

"I was talking to both of you f*gs." She said while looking at her nails.

"You f*cking b*tch." Said Michael before punching her in the face.

"ENOUGH!" Steve shouted while trying to push Mikey away from her.

Michael had managed to get in one more punch before he was pushed off completely.

He almost fell down but I was right behind him and luckily I caught him.

"Keep your gross ass f*cking hands off my boyfriend." I told Steve before grabbing Michael's hand and walking out of Steve's office.

~

*Michael's POV*

Before we left I happened to catch a glimpse of that b*tch I just punched and she was freaking out over her now busted lip. Honestly, I don't regret hitting her. She deserved it for the way she talked to Luke.

Now we're on our way home and we're most likely just going to cuddle for the rest of the day because that's one thing we're good at.

"Hey Michael?" Luke said keeping his eyes on the road.

"Hm?"

"Remember that date I mentioned yesterday?" He asked looking over at me with a smile on his face.

"I remember." I said nodding my head.

"Well that's happening now. I figured we both need to be cheered up a little so we're going to the movies." He told me smiling.

"We should see a scary movie!" I suggested knowing Luke hated them.

"But I hate scary movies, it'll just end with me cuddled up in your lap terrified of everything." He said frowning.

"I wouldn't mind that, and plus you're really cute when you're scared." I told him while intertwining my hand with his.

"Ugh fine but you owe me something later." He told me before turning his head towards me and winking.

~

*At The Movie*

*Third Person POV*

As predicted, Luke was cuddled up in Michael's lap and he was in fact terrified of everything. Every time a scary scene was on, Luke would try to hide his face in Mike's neck until it was over. To Luke the movie seemed never ending. He was enjoying it but it seemed like they'd been watching it for hours. Towards the end of the movie he had almost fallen asleep on Michael because of how exhausted he was and the fact that neither of them were really paying attention to the movie anymore. All their attention was on each other and there wasn't very many people in this particular theater either. They were sitting pretty far from everyone else so when they whispered it really wasn't audible to anyone but them.

"Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you"

"I love you too Mikey"

"I love you more Lukey"

"I love you dork." Said Luke before kissing Michael.

"I love you too dweeb." Said Mikey with a big smile on his face.

~

*Michael's POV*

After the movie we skipped going to the arcade even though it was just down the street from where the movie theater is. We both just wanted to go home and rest. On our way home we decided to stop at 7/11 to put some gas in the car and get some snacks.

Luke was in charge of gas (bc he farts a lot) and I'm in charge of snacks. I was looking for Luke's favorite candy when all of a sudden I was turned around and slapped extremely hard. I dropped everything I was holding and grabbed my cheek in pain.

"WHAT THE F*CK?!?!" I said loudly and in pain.

"Oops sorry my hand slipped." I heard a familiar bitchy voice say.

"You f*cking b*tch." I say once realizing who it was.

"Before I met Luke I had seen a picture of him and thought maybe he was decent guy but now that I know he's a worthless f*ggot I wonder why he hasn't killed himself..."

That's when I lost it.

"What the f*ck did you just say?"

"Me? Nothi-" She started but didn't get a chance to finish..

I pushed her into the shelf behind her and she landed on the floor along with everything else that was previously on the shelf. She kicked my leg so hard that I also fell to the floor and just began punching the sh*t out of her as much as I could.

"Oh my god Michael!" I heard Luke shout from behind me.

I got up off the floor where Arzaylea was still on the floor, face bloody. I also had blood all over my face but I honestly couldn't feel any pain. I heard police sirens and I realized the owners of the store had called the cops on me and that b*tch. I turned around to grab Luke but what I saw was Arzaylea standing behind Luke with a large bottle in her hand. Before I could react she smashed it over his head and he fell to the floor. I ran over to Luke as she fled from the store.

I kneeled down next to Luke and tried moving his head onto my lap but I froze when I saw blood starting to pool around his head. His eyes weren't opening and he wasn't answering any of my questions. I ran over to a police officer in a panic who told me an ambulance was on the way. The officers wouldn't let me near Luke, even after the ambulance arrived.

"Is h-he okay? Is he a-alive? Can I r-ride with him?" I asked one of the paramedics.

"Sir we need to take you in for questioning, follow me." Said an officer from behind me.

The paramedic closed the ambulance doors and drove off. I was able to hear the distant sound of the ambulance sirens for a few seconds before they faded completely.

This can't be real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. If you didn't and it offended you in anyway I truly am sorry. Next week updates will be back to normal and also next weeks chapter is going to be an emotional one to say the least soooooo prepare yourselves. I love you all I hope you guys are having an amazing weekend. ALSo HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKE.


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii guys! I hope you all had a wonderful week :) I'm excited to say that this story reached 900 reads on Movellas which made me very very happy. It is close to passing 500 on here and it has just over 200 on Wattpad. My biggest wish is to get all three platforms to 1,000 reads each by my birthday, July 29. It would mean everything to me if you guys could help by retweeting my tweets on Twitter @MiaaStories and sharing with your friends :) I love you guys all so much thank you for reading and leaving such kind comments. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

_**July 22nd** _

***Michael's POV***

Luke he- Luke's in a coma.

That sentence had been the only thing running through my head for the last month and a half. It had been over a month since I've heard his beautiful voice. I hadn't even realized how much time had gone by until Calum pointed out a couple days ago that it was Luke's birthday. He'd been unconscious since June 10th.

***Flashback To July 16th***

*Calum walks in with birthday balloons*

"Calum whats with all the balloons?"

-"Well I figured since its Luke's birthd-"

"Luke's birthday? He was born in July not June dumbass."

-"Michael, today is July 16th..."

"N-no today is like June 15th or something. What the hell are you talking about?"

-"Michael when was the last time you checked your phone...?"

"I don't know... a while I guess?"

"Oh my god. He's really been out for a month?"

-"Yeah. You've only been home a couple times since... you usually just sleep in the waiting room or in here with him. Last time you left the hospital was when we dragged you to that party with us last week."

"Calum?"

-"Yeah?"

"Do you think he'll ever wake up"

-"He will. I know he will."

"I hope so."

***End of Flashback***

So here I've sat, since June 10th, holding Luke's hand. I only ever leave his side to go to the bathroom or to shower. I've drank endless amounts of coffee and I haven't eaten very much. According to the other boys I'm getting skinnier and more pale as the days go by. I think a couple days ago, maybe weeks ago, a doctor came in and wasn't sure if Luke would ever wake up. Just the thought of my baby not getting to live longer than just 19 years makes me sick. I've thrown up several times just out of nervousness that he'll never wake up. That I'll never get to see his gorgeous blue eyes and his beautiful bright smile ever again. I'll never get to hear his soft, calming voice ever again. Luke keeps me sane. I can't lose him. It's my fault he's laying here unconscious. I should have been protecting him from that dumb bitch. I should have tried harder to stop him from bleeding out so much. If I would have been there to catch him, he wouldn't have hit his head so hard. If I had protected him, he'd be smiling and laughing right now. He'd be with me. It should be me laying here and not him! Fuck it should be me lying in a hospital bed on the verge of death. Luke didn't deserve this. He never hurt anyone! I just want my baby back in my arms.

***Knocking on door***

"Mike.... how've you been? Said Cayla who had just walked in.

"Miserable. I miss Luke." I said quietly.

"I know. I can't imagine how you're feeling." She said placing her hand on my shoulder.

I smiled weakly. I'm glad she was here.

"I gathered a few people, we all wanna just get together and have fun. We want you to come, you don't have to come if you don't want to but please just think about it. We're all worried about you and Luke. Just call me if you decide you wanna go okay?"

Without thought I simply said "I'll go. What time?"

"Around 4ish maybe?" She asked.

"Okay" I said smiling.

"Alright well, see you later." She said while smiling at me.

I nodded and she left.

**~**

"Luke I really want you to wake up soon. I miss you so much. I'm going out tonight, I'm not sure where but I think I really need to get out. I love staying here with you and being by your side every minute of the day so you aren't alone but I've hardly spoke to anyone in a month and a half. I need you to wake up. I'm nothing without you here. I miss your smile and your voice. I miss cuddling with you everyday and having dance parties and making stupid puns just to hear your laugh. I miss everything about you. I miss you. I'll be back later tonight. I promise. Jack is here. He'll be here while I'm gone. He flew in last week. He's really worried about you. I have to go now but remember, I love you."

**~**

We're all going to an amusement park that's about half an hour away. In the car we have Me, Cayla, Bella, Kevin, Sadie, Trevor, and Abigail. We were listening to the radio and Taylor Swift was playing. Everyone was laughing and talking but me, I was reading fans tweets about Luke. Everyone is heartbroken and worried out of their minds. I shouldn't have left him. I should be sitting in the chair next to his bed and holding his hand. I wanted to tell Cayla to take me back to the hospital so I could be with Luke but I didn't want to ruin everyone's night. We were already almost to the park anyway. I decided to text Jack just to ask him if Luke was still okay. I couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Are you okay?" Asked Sadie who was sitting next to me.

"Yeah I'm just worried about Luke."

"Luke will be okay. Just try to get your mind off him for a while and have some fun okay?" She said smiling a bit.

**~**

"GUYS LETS GO ON THAT ONE!" Said Kevin excitedly while pointing at a very large roller coaster with multiple loops.

"I don't do roller coasters that have loops. NoPE" I said slightly scared.

"CmoNNN it'll be fun!" Said Bella while dragging me toward the line.

"Cmon do it for Luke! He'd want you to face your fears and just do it." Said Trevor smiling.

"Alright alright fine." I said thinking about how Luke would never get on a ride like this himself. He hates roller coasters.

God I miss Luke.

"Mikey it's our turn let's go!" Said Abigail before grabbing my wrist and pulling me along until we got to our seats.

"Ready?" She asked from next to me.

"Am I allowed to say no?"

"Nope." Trevor said from where he was sitting in the cart behind us.

"Well alright then, let's do this."

**~**

***A Couple Hours Later***

**~**

It was now around 8pm and we were all getting something to eat. Trevor ordered a giant pizza and everyone was eating but I wasn't very hungry.

"Michael aren't you hungry?" Sadie asked me.

"Not really.."

"When was the last time you ate an actual meal?" Kevin asked sensitively.

"I ate breakfast with Calum on Tuesday I think."

"Michael.... today is Friday... you have to eat something." Bella said concerned.

"Fine."

**~**

***Another Timeskip***

**~**

We were all walking back towards the rides after resting for a while and letting our food settle. Today had actually been really nice and I was having real fun. I still really miss Luke but Cayla was right, I did need to get out for a while. I was zoned out and I ran right into someone and fell to the floor.

"Shit sorry I-"

"What the fuck! Watch where you're going you stupid fuck!" I heard a familiar voice say.

"Asparagus? What the fuck? I thought your sorry ass went to jail." I said angrily.

"It's Arzaylea you dumb fuck, and I did get arrested because of your stupid ass but since I'm rich, I was out before I even got to the police station." She said smiling.

"Stupid bitch if you're so damn rich why the hell don't you pay your rent?" I chuckled.

"Fucking fag." She said before stepping on my wrist and crushing it.

I managed to push her foot off my wrist and managed to get her to lose her balance and fall on her ass as well. This resulted in her punching me and me punching her. We we're practically on the floor beating the shit out of each other. I managed to get on top of her and luckily get most of my strength back so I could beat the shit out of her with the one hand I still had. I didn't even feel any pain.

"MICHAEL?!" I think I heard Bella yell.

Everyone started yelling my name after that but I just kept hitting her. She's the fucking reason my Lukey has been laying in a fucking hospital bed for the last month and a half. She's the fucking reason I may never get to hear Luke's voice again. It's all her fucking fault.

**{Note: I've never fought anyone so if that fighting scene shit sucked then I'm sorry oops.}**

Kevin and Bella finally managed to pull me off of her and I hadn't even noticed until now that I was crying. My hands were all bloody and my nose was bleeding. I got up and looked down at Arzaylea who now had a busted lip (again) and probably a broken nose. At one point I completely just tore out her nose piercing. From what it seemed, I think she was unconscious which I was fairly happy with.

**~**

I was now in the bathroom washing the blood off my hands and observing my now black eye.

"Michael?" I heard Trevor say as soon as he walked in.

"If you're about to tell me how much I embarrassed all of you guys out there just save it. I'll get a ride home or something you guys can go have fun." I said while drying my hands.

"No Michael that's not-"

"Trevor it's fine. I'll just go." I said while walking towards the door.

Just as I reached for the door handle my phone rang. I saw that it was Jack calling and figured he was just calling to ask when I'd be back.

"Hey Jack I was just gon-"

\- "Luke's awake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER!!! Comment or tweet me what you guys thought of it! Do you guys think Luke's gonna remember Michael? Do you think he's gonna remember anyone? Next Friday is my birthday so expect a good chapter! Expect the unexpected... I love you all I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
> 
> Twitter: @charliccox
> 
> Instagram: @lgbtqhood


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI GUYYSSSS SORRY THIS IS UP LATER THAN USUAL ITS MY BIRTHDAY AND IVE BEEN GONE ALL DAY. IM CURRENTLY IN LINE TO MEET SHANE DAWSON SO I THOUGHT WHILE I WAS WAITING I'D UPDATE FOR YOU GUYS. HOPE YOU LIKE TODAYS CHAPTER :)) I LOVE YOU ALL.

"Luke's awake."

~

{The Phone Call}

"What? He's awake?"

J: "Yeah, he keeps asking for you."

"Can I talk to him please?"

J: "Of course. Just a second, I'll give him the phone."

*

L: "H-hello?"

"Luke?"

L: "Michael? Where are you? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Baby I'm fine. How are you? How do you feel?"

L: "Tired and confused. Where are you?"

"I've been out today but I'm on my way to you. I'll be there soon okay?"

L: "Okay. I love you."

"I love you too baby."

{End of Phone Call}

~

*Third Person POV*

*Michael walks into Luke's room*

"Lukey?" Michael says after walking in and seeing Luke watching TV.

"Mikey!" Luke says while smiling excitedly and opening his arms as a way of asking for a hug.

Michael rushed into his arms and kind of ended up on top of him since he was still laying in the hospital bed.

"I've missed you so much," Michael told him before placing a light kiss on his cheek.

"Well, I'll leave you two to catch up. See you later Luke." Jack said while putting on his jacket.

"Bye Jack," Luke said before turning his attention back to Mike who was cuddled up next to him in this tiny bed.

"Mikey, why do you have a black eye? What happened? Did somebody hurt you?" Luke asked worriedly.

"Luke calm down I just got into a bit of a fight with someone," Michael said, not wanting to have to speak of who he had fought with.

"Who were you fighting with?"

"The dumb bitch that got you here in the first place," Michael said, his mood visibly changing.

"Arzaylea? She didn't even go to jail even after she almost killed me?" Luke said looking a bit angry.

"Well they did arrest her but her rich daddy bailed her out within the hour."

Luke rolled his eyes.

"BUT.... today when I got into that fight with her it ended with her unconscious on the floor with a busted lip, a broken nose AND as a bonus point I pulled that nose ring right out of her giant ass fucking nose and made her bleed," Michael said proudly.

"Nice one babe," Luke said laughing at how proud Mike was of himself.

"But anyway enough of that, how are you feeling?" Said Michael while wrapping his arms around Luke's waist.

"I feel pretty good for someone who just woke up from being in a coma." Luke said laughing a bit.

"That's good."

"Hey babe?" Luke said.

"Yeah baby?" Michael responded.

"How long was I out? Jack wouldn't tell me, he told me I should wait for you to tell me. What day is it?" Luke said looking quite nervous.

"Lukey.... you've been out since June 10th. Today is July 22nd. Your birthday was just a couple days ago." Michael said hoping Luke wouldn't freak out too much.

"Really? I was out for a month and a half? What did you do while I was out?" Luke asked curiously.

"I stayed here with you. I only ever left to take showers and go to the bathroom. I only went home 2 or 3 times when the boys forced me to but other than that I was always here." Michael said smiling at his boyfriend.

"Except for today. Where were you?" Luke said sounding disappointed.

"Luke, I really didn't want to leave, I promise. My friends invited me out and without thinking I said yes. Right when we left I wanted to come back but I didn't want to ruin everyone's night by making them drive me back so I just went. I'm so sorry Lukey." Michael told him, a hint of regret in his voice.

"It's okay. I shouldn't be mad, you probably needed some time away from me anyway."

"I'll make it up to you baby I promise. I'll take you out on a date." Mike said smiling once again.

"Mikey not to sound like I'm complaining or anything but last time we went out on a date it ended with me in a coma. Could we maybe just stay home this time? I mean it wouldn't necessarily be a date but I wouldn't mind just cuddling and watching movies with you." Luke said.

"Are you hinting at wanting Netflix and chill again Luke?" Michael joked.

"uGH NO. Although while we're on the subject, I wouldn't mind yah kno, doin it. I mean it has been almost 2 months," Luke said laughing.

"Oh believe me the second you're back in your own bed I'll be all over you," Michael said with a small smirk on his face.

"Jesus Christ well in that case you think they'll release me tonight?" Luke said with a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

"Probably not, you'll just have to wait baby," Said Michael sadly.

"But I promise, I'll make it worth the wait," He added.

"I love you," Luke told him.

"I love you too dork."

"So what'd I miss you know, while I was out?" Luke asked curiously.

"Well the band is on break for a while since their gorgeous lead singer took a long nap," Michael joked.

"What about the tour?" Luke asked.

"What tour?" Mike asked confused.

"We were gonna announce a tour. It was suppose to start on July 1st," Luke said sadly.

"No one ever told me anything about a tour.... Were you just gonna get up and leave me?" Mike asked a little disappointed.

"No baby, I was planning on telling you. I just didn't know how to. I'm so sorry." Luke said hoping he wasn't extremely mad at him.

"It's alright Lukey. I shouldn't be mad, I mean it's your job. You just make me so happy I don't want you to leave. I'd miss you too much."

"I'm sorry." Luke said once again.

"It's okay baby." Michael said, holding Luke's hand.

Luke yawned and curled up into Mikey's arms.

"Get some rest. I'll still be here when you wake up in the morning." Michael said while putting his arms protectively around his little Lukey.

"Promise?"

"I promise baby."

"Goodnight ." Luke said before kissing him.

"G'night Lukey." He said smiling before they both happily drifted off to sleep.

~

{The Next Morning}

July 23rd

*Luke's POV aka this shits about to get real fucked*

I woke up in Michael's arms and it was the best feeling ever, 1) because I was actually awake and not stuck in a coma anymore and 2) because I love him more than anything in the world and I love feeling safe in his arms. From what I could tell he was still asleep and he looked so peaceful sleeping that I didn't mind. He's changed a lot since I've been out. He's skinnier, paler, and he's lost the emotion in his voice. Last night even when he seemed so happy, he looked so empty. I assumed it was because he was getting used to me being back but I was hesitant to ask what was actually causing it. I decided when he wakes up I'd ask him and try my best to help.

I rang the little buzzer next to my bed so I could call a nurse in here to ask if it was okay if I got up and walked around by myself. It sounds kinda dumb but I just wanna leave this room for a bit. I mean I hadn't necessarily walked in a while so I was scared but I think it'd be a while before Michael wakes up since I think this is the first real sleep he's gotten since I fell into the coma. Before a nurse could show up Jack walked in.

"Hey Luke," He said while standing in the doorway.

"Hey Jack. If there's a nurse nearby could you ask if I could leave this room for a bit? It's so dark and depressing I just wanna get out," I told him quietly so I wouldn't wake Mikey.

"Sure thing." He said while looking outside the door and stopping a woman who was most likely one of the nurses.

He turned back to me and said "She said we should probably take a wheelchair to one of the less crowded halls and then you can walk around a bit okay?"

I nodded and started to slowly move out of Mikey's arms without waking him up. Before hopping into the wheelchair Jack had brought me, I kissed Michael's forehead and said "I'll be right back love I promise." He may have been asleep but I knew he could still hear me.

~

As Jack rolled me down the hallways I realized I had no idea where my phone was.

"Hey Jack do you know where my phone is?" I asked while fiddling with the cloth on my hospital gown.

"Well your last one kinda got destroyed the day you went into the coma, I guess when you got hurt, uhm blood got all over it and inside of it so it stopped working but we bought you a new one in case you woke up. Here you go." He said handing me a brand new phone.

"You guys really didn't have to do this." I said feeling like I didn't necessarily deserve a new phone.

"Luke it's fine. We wanted to." He said smiling.

"I think Michael already set it up and put all your contacts in it and stuff so you should be good to go." He said while I turned it on.

The first thing I saw was the Twitter app. I looked to see Ashton had tweeted on the band account saying I fell while we were rehearsing and I cracked my head open on something and that's why I was suddenly in a coma. Obviously this wasn't true but I don't think the guys were allowed to tell the public what had actually happened. Either way, I tweeted saying I was finally back and okay. The replies were instant. They came faster than ever. There was one particular tweet that caught my eye. Someone was tweeting pictures of Michael and some guy together. It could have just been one of his friends but in all the pictures they seemed quite close. There was a couple of them on various rollercoasters together and they were both smiling and happy. Then there we're other pictures of this guy leaving Mikey's house with a bag of clothes. Did they sleep together? Did Michael really move on from me while I was out?

"Hey Jack do you know who this guy is?" I said showing him the picture of this mystery guy.

"No." Jack said while looking around.

"You're lying to me. You don't look people in the eyes when you're trying to tell a lie. Jack tell me, do you know this guy?" I asked again.

"Fine he's the guy who forced Michael to go home after he'd stayed here for over a month and he stayed at his house with him but that's all I know." He said looking at me.

"Do you thi-"

"Luke don't even start there's no way that boy would ever cheat on you okay? He loves you so much. We can all see it. He'd never hurt you like that. Please don't think that he would ever do that." He said truthfully.

"Can we go back now? I wanna be with Mikey." I said almost in tears.

I didn't exactly know why I was almost in tears. I think it's the fact that Michael actually loves me and he would never cheat on me. How could I think that he would? He's the sweetest boy I've ever met and he's never hurt anyone (except for that time he kicked the shit out of arzaylea bc that was sick af).

~

Once we got back to the room I saw that Mikey was still sound asleep. I sat on the small couch I had in there since he had taken up most of the bed by now. His phone rang but I ignored it. Until it rang again and again and again. I finally got up to see it was a bunch of calls and texts from someone named Jeremy. One of the texts being "Hey, its been a while, when can we meet up again? ;)". Jealousy and anger suddenly rushed through me and I was more than pissed. I shook Michael until he woke up.

"We need to talk," I said angrily.

"Whats wrong?" He said rubbing his eyes.

"Who the hell is Jake?" I said trying to not get even more pissed without knowing exactly who he is.

"An old friend from high school. Any reason why you ask?" He said after yawning.

"Oh just no reason he just texted you and it seemed like you guys were close and I d-didn't know who he was I'm sorry." I said feeling bad for once again thinking he was cheating on me.

"Is Jeremy the one you were at the amusement park with?" I asked nervously.

"No. That was Kevin. He stayed one night at home with me to make sure I didn't do anything stupid since you were out. I thought you would never wake up. I was going crazy. Jeremy is just an old friend from school who I haven't seen in a couple years okay? I know you think I cheated on you with one of them but I would never do that okay? I love you. So much." He told me before kissing me.

*Michael's POV*

"Jeremy is just an old friend from school who I haven't seen in a couple years."

I currently hated myself completely for two reasons that Luke could never find out.

1) I lied to Luke.

2) The last time I saw Jeremy was less than a week ago.


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *PLEASEEE READ*
> 
> Hey guys! In this chapter, you will find out what Michael was lying to Luke about. I wanna say there is a possible trigger warning, so in the description of the book, I list the things this story contains so please make sure you're okay with all of those before reading. I really don't want to upset anyone. Even though it may not seem like it in this chapter, this story is to make people who read it, happy. I've received so many kind comments from people who really enjoy this story and it makes me incredibly happy. So thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

***Michael's POV***

Here's the thing about life, sometimes shit happens and maybe you could have stopped it or maybe it was inevitable. What happened to me, I feel is entirely my fault. Luke doesn't know about it. He can never know. Jeremy is the only one who really knows what happened and he's the reason I feel so guilty. Even if my mind is trying to convince me it was entirely Jeremy's fault, I believe otherwise.

Here's the thing, I didn't necessarily cheat on Luke, I could've been but honestly, I wasn't sober enough to know what I was doing. The story is, while Luke was in a coma the boys dragged me to some giant house party which I didn't want to go to but was so out of it and depressed that I didn't even realize I had left the hospital until we got there.

Anyway, at the party, I drank way more than any depressed person should and little did I realize, Jeremy was there. I had been friends with Jeremy in high school and I mean other than being friends on Facebook we hadn't spoken since Junior year. We had been best friends since the 4th grade but during Junior year, rumors were flying around about me and some certain things were said and turns out he had started them all. Which didn't leave me with nice things to say to him, so we quit speaking. I'd like to say I forgave him which I'm sure I did but I'm not so sure I'll ever be able to forgive him this time. This party was an absolute fucking mess.

***The Morning After The Party***

**_July 19th_ **

I woke up with a terrible headache and rubbed my eyes a couple times before I actually open them. It took me a second to realize all my clothes were gone and I was hurting all over. I had no memory of what had happened but it really didn't look good. No one was in the bed with me thank god, but due to the dozens of award looking things on the wall with Jeremy's name on them I took a wild guess that I was in his bed. I slowly got up and just put on whatever I could find on the floor. I'm pretty sure everything I put on was Jake's but at this point, I didn't really care I just wanted to get out of here. I slowly found my way through the hallway and saw my phone lying on the floor and picked it up quickly, continuing down the stairs. Just as I was about to walk out the front door I felt someone grab my arm tightly. That someone was Jeremy.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said while turning me around.

"I'm going home you asshole," I said trying to loosen his grip on my arm.

"Hey, play nice. You seemed to REALLY like me last night, what happened?" He said, making me want to throw up.

"I didn't like you last night. I don't like you now. I was drunk off my ass last night and you took advantage of that fact and did God knows what to me okay so just shut the hell up and let me go home." I said trying to hold back tears.

He finally loosened his grip on my arm and I got out of there as quickly as I could. Once I got a little ways down the street I took my phone out of my pocket and was thankful when it turned on and showed that it still had some battery I could use to call someone. Most of my missed calls were from Ashton and Calum. I quickly returned one of Ashton's calls and heard him answer with a worried voice.

"Michael? Where have you been all night? Are you okay? We've all been worried sick."

"Ashton, I'm okay I just ran into an old friend at the party last night and ended up going back to their house with them to catch up and by the time I realized what time it was I figured you guys were asleep and I didn't wanna bother you so I just crashed at my his place. Sorry I didn't text you and tell you where I was." I lied.

"It's alright, Luke would kill me if I ever let anything happen to you. I'm just glad you're okay." He said sounding relieved.

"But anyway, could you maybe come pick me up? My friend is uhm still asleep and I don't wanna wake him up..." I said lying to Ashton once again.

"Of course, text me the address and I'll be there soon." He said before hanging up.

I looked on my phone and figured out where I was because even I didn't know exactly that and then texted Ashton the address of a house about a block away from Jeremy's. I sat down on the curb which was an extremely painful process all in itself. I wanted to just sit here and scream and cry until everything that happened last night just erased itself from history. But crying wasn't going to change anything so I just sat in silence. I don't even know what the hell Jeremy did to me but just the simple thought of it makes me want to vomit. And I did. I felt like I was throwing up my lungs and it just wouldn't stop. Soon enough, I heard a car pull up next to me and before I knew it Ashton was at my side.

"Oh my god Michael are you okay?" He had asked me worriedly.

"Yeah I'm fine. I think I just had a little too much to drink last night." I said while getting up.

I looked down at my shirt or Jeremy's shirt whoever the fucks shirt this is and saw a trail of vomit on it.

"Oh great..." I said mostly to myself.

Ash took off his jacket and held it out for me.

"If you want you can take off your shirt in the car and put this on." He said nicely.

"Thanks," I said and smiled weakly.

I got in the car and saw Ashton turn away before I slowly lifted my shirt to avoid getting vomit on myself again. Once I got my shirt off, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, lots of marks on my stomach. I looked down and saw bruises along my hips and my stomach. That's also when I noticed the bruising around my wrists.

"Oh my god..." I whispered almost shockingly to myself.

I felt like I was going to be sick again so I just quickly put on Ashton's jacket and got out of the car.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, just a sec," I said before walking to a trash can I saw in front of one of the houses across the street.

I got to the trash and threw away what I was still assuming was Jake's shirt then walked back to Ashton's car.

"Not even gonna try to wash it huh?" Ash said humorously while getting in the car.

"It was borrowed anyway." I sighed.

**~ Present Day ~**

**_August 5th_ **

***Michael's** **POV***

It's been 2 weeks since Luke woke up and they had let him come home last week. Now we were laying on the couch watching a movie together and I got up to make some popcorn. While I was in the kitchen the doorbell rang and I heard Luke say "I'll get it!". I couldn't hear who was at the door because the microwave was quite loud but we were in Luke's house and since he lives with the other boys it could have just been one of them forgetting their key. A couple seconds later Luke walked into the kitchen and said, "Hey Mikey there's someone outside who wants to talk to you".

"Who is it?" I asked confused that someone would need to speak to me here when I don't even live here.

"I don't know just some guy who said he needs to talk to you," Luke said in an almost nervous voice.

I nodded, walked to the front door and opened it to see Jeremy. I was in so much shock I wasn't really registering that this was actually happening.

"What the-" I pushed myself outside and closed the door behind me.

Now that we were outside I began speaking. Or whisper yelling to be more exact.

"What the fuck are you doing here? How the fuck do you even know where Luke lives?" I said.

"Ever since our night together I've been keeping tabs on you and I just wanted to see how my little fuck toy was doing." He said while trying to run his hand down my side.

"Get the fuck off me. You raped me and you're lucky I haven't called the fucking cops on your ass." I said pushing him away from me.

"Hey if I were you I'd be nice to me. I could end your perfect little relationship with your precious Lukey anytime I want." He said stepping closer to me.

"You'd never be able to break us up," I said knowing Luke would take my side if he ever found out about this.

"Really?" He asked.

"Really," I replied.

"Break up with him." He said strictly.

"Excuse me?" I said surprised.

"Break up with him." He said again.

"You're insane if you think I'm gonna do that," I said and laughed before turning around to go back inside.

"Break up with him or I'll shoot his fucking brains out." He said seriously.

I turned around and saw he was holding a gun.

"Why would you do that? What has he ever done to you?" I said trying to stay calm.

"He makes you happy and I hate seeing you happy. Now, like I said, break up with him. You have 24 hours. Tell him you found someone else. Someone better. Make him cry. I'll be watching you both. If you tell him anything about me I'll shoot the both of you. If you bring the cops into this, I will again, shoot you both. And it won't be just once. Trust me on that. Your time starts now." He said before turning around and walking away.

I didn't think it was the wisest move to argue with someone who had a gun with them so I just turned around and went inside.

Luke was sitting on the couch when I walked in and he didn't immediately ask who it was which I was thankful for since I probably would have broken out into tears. I just sat down next to Luke and wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his neck. I tried my absolute hardest not to cry but I ended up doing it anyway.

"Luke I'm so sorry," I whispered into his neck unsure that he could even hear me.

"Shhh, it's okay." He said wrapping his arms around me as well.

I don't know what I was thinking when i started telling Luke about Jeremy. Of course, I wanted to protect him and I would take a bullet for him but I just couldn't keep this from him anymore. It had taken it's toll on me. I never smiled as much as I used to. I don't eat as often as I should. Sure when Luke woke up I got a little better but it wasn't long before guilt took over completely. I don't understand why I was feeling so guilty if it wasn't my fault in the first place. I guess I blame myself for ever leaving Luke and going to that party in the first place.

"L-Luke he r-raped me. I'm so s-sorry I was drunk and I don't know what he did but I woke up the n-next morning covered in bruises and I just can't do this anymore I'm sorry." I sobbed into his chest.

"Mikey... who was at the door? Was that him? I won't let him hurt you again I promise I'll get rid of him." He said sounding like he was crying too.

"N-No Luke he said if I told you he would shoot you I can't let him hurt you I c-can't I'm sorry I did this," I said feeling like I couldn't breathe anymore.

"Mikey, hey, hey, it's okay. He won't hurt us okay? Nothing is going to happen to either of us. Just focus on your breathing okay? Just breathe in time with me okay? Everything will be okay." He said holding my face in his hands.

"L-Luke he said I had to break up with you and make you cry or he'd h-hurt you. Luke, what do I do?" I asked trying to sound calmer than before.

"Do exactly that. Break up with me. I can cry. I'll know it's not real." He said holding me again.

"Luke I can't. I don't want to leave you alone. He'll hurt you." I said trying to keep myself from crying again.

"It'll be okay. I'll handle this, then we can be together. Always."

"I love you Luke," I said before kissing him one last time.

"And I love you, Michael." He said wiping away a tear that was rolling down my cheek.

And with that we screamed, we yelled, we cried, and fought, all an act to protect each other. I ran out of the house and slammed the door behind me, leaving the love of my life alone and in danger. As I got in my car to drive away I noticed someone watching me from the inside of a car across the street. As much as I wanted to stay and protect Luke, I had to just drive away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I didn't hurt you guys too badly with that chapter. It's only the beginning of the Jeremy issue so be ready for what's coming soon. I love you guys. Again, thank you so much for reading. :)
> 
> Twitter: charliccox
> 
> Instagram: lgbtqhood


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry this chapter is up so late in the day for anybody in the same timezone as me. I started school yesterday and it's so odd starting on a Thursday and I completely forgot today was Friday. I love you all and thank you for reading.

***Luke's POV***

It's been a week since Jeremy came over and threatened us. I've been sitting here worrying about Mikey every second of every day. I couldn't call him. I couldn't see him. I couldn't even show that I was worried. I know Jeremy has been watching me, I don't think he's trying to hide. I've gone out to the store and out with friends and the same car has followed me everywhere. It wasn't like a creepy stalker van or anything it was really just a small white car that blended in with the neighborhood. 

Anyway, Mikey had said that when Jeremy came by, he had told him that we had 24 hours to break up or he'd shoot me. I was scared, I think terrified is more accurate description but I had to be brave and strong for Mikey. Jeremy hasn't made any contact with me since and I'm currently sitting in the living room tossing my phone around in my hands trying to decide whether or not to call Mikey. I miss him like crazy and I didn't know how much longer I could act strong like this. 

I remembered this one conversation Mike and I had back before we were together when I had just come back from the studio from recording my band's song "Disconnected". I had let him listen to it and he really enjoyed it and had asked who had written it. Calum and I had written it and when I told Mikey this, he said it was really great. I told him when I first moved to LA and just wanted to get away from the world and be alone I would hike up this little hill that overlooked the highway near my old house. It was odd but my favorite thing to do as a little kid was sit in traffic and watch the cars on the other side of the highway fly past me. I don't really know what was so mesmerizing about it but everyone finds it odd when I say I like traffic. I find it fascinating that thousands of people drive on the same road every day yet they're all headed somewhere different. Everybody has a different background or story but you trust them to drive safely and they trust you to do the same. Complete strangers have each others lives in their hands.

I'm rambling, aren't I...?

Anyway, what I meant is that that spot on the little hill was my getaway and my favorite place for a long time. Now, Mikey is my getaway, my favorite place, and my safe place. I need to see him today. I need to protect him, it's my job to protect him. I figured since Jeremy was probably monitoring my phone calls, calling from a payphone was my best bet. I couldn't call Mikey directly so I'll call some of my bodyguards and send them to pick him up. He probably hasn't left his house so hopefully, he's still there when they go to pick him up. I haven't seen Jeremy's creepy white car in the past couple days so I felt a bit safer going to look for a payphone. 

**~**

Dave and a couple other guys had gone to Mikey's house meanwhile I was with some of our other guards and heading to the hill. I kept feeling the need to look over my shoulder to see if Jeremy was following me but I resisted and just kept my head down. And of course to calm myself down, I eventually just looked out the window and watched the cars fly by. The sun was about to set and the sky was a beautiful pink color towards the horizon if you can picture that. Soon enough, we got to the bottom of the little hill and I slowly got out of the car and just stared at the little dirt road waiting for Mikey to get here. He may not even show up. Maybe they went to his house and couldn't find him.

**~**

Before I could think anymore, the headlights of a car were shining in our faces. It still wasn't dark out so when Mikey stepped out of the car I immediately recognized him. We didn't even run into each others arms because of what I would guess, is the reason we had to meet here in the first place. When we hugged it was both the saddest and caring hug I've ever experienced. We just stood there in each others arms while everyone else just watched with looks of sympathy on their faces.

"I miss you," I said quietly.

"I'm sorry all of this is happening. It's all my fault." He said clearly crying.

I pulled away from our hug and held his face in my hands.

"Mikey listen to me, none of this is your fault. You didn't ask for any of this to happen. Everything will be okay." I said before hugging him again.

After a while, we both pulled away and I asked Dave if it was okay if Mikey and I walked a little ways up the hill alone. After he hesitantly nodded, I took hold of Mikey's hand and smiled weakly.

We began walking up the trail and for a long while it was just silence. Surprisingly, he was the first one to speak.

"Do you hate me? I mean have you enjoyed us not being together?" He said looking at me with so much sadness in his eyes.

"God no Mikey I don't hate you. I love you, okay? I always will. And we are together. This is all just an act remember? We both know that it isn't real. I've been miserable not being able to talk to you or be with you physically. Please don't think that I hate you. Please remember that I love you. No matter how far apart we are. No matter how long we're apart. You'll always be in my heart." I said before stopping him from walking and kissing him.

"I missed you too." He said barely audible.

It didn't take very much longer before we got to the top of the hill. The sun had almost fully set and the sky was pink and orange and full of clouds which just made it that much more beautiful. We sat down on this log that had been there for as long as I could remember and somehow still remained. I was dreading having to tell Mikey that I have to go back to Sydney, I mean I had just reassured him that I loved him and we'd always be together now I'm just gonna tell him I'm leaving and won't be back for a couple months. Seriously?

"Michael... we need to talk about something," I said nervously.

"You're breaking up with me aren't you?" He asked quietly.

"Mikey no," I said scooting closer to him and wrapping my arms around him.

I waited a while before speaking.

"My uh-m management is forcing me to go back to Australia until we start our tour in September. They don't think it's safe for me and the guys here. I'm so-"

"So you're leaving me and it's my fault. Fucking great. I just keep ruining everything. I mean if you go back to Australia I doubt that when you come back you'll want to see me again so what are you waiting for? Instead of waiting til you're on the other side of the world just break up with me now so I can start trying to forget you." He said angrily before getting up and walking away.

I knew he didn't mean what he was saying, I knew it was just his built up sadness and anger towards Jeremy and not being able to help the situation.

"Mikey please stop," I said going to chase after him.

My phone rang signaling that I had a new text. I stopped running and pulled out my phone o reveal a text from a blocked number. It read, "guess that went a little better than I thought it would. Do you think Michael takes back what he said about me not being able to break you guys up? Guess you guys aren't as strong as you thought you were."

He was here and he had eyes on us.

"MIKEY WAIT!"

I ran as quick as I could with the flashlight on my phone lighting my way through what was now complete darkness. I saw Mikey sitting on a rock near the edge of the cliff. I ran over to him, grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Mikey-" I started.

"Luke would you please just leave me alone." He said in a sad voice.

"Mikey no please c'mon we have to go, Jeremy is here, he knows we're here if we don't get out of here now he'll hurt us both. We have to go." I said as quickly as I could, worried that we wouldn't be able to escape in time.

"Just let him kill me." He said ripping his arm out of my grip and sitting back down.

"Baby if you don't get up now I don't think either of us will ever see the light of day again so let's go. Now." I said grabbing him and forcing him to walk alongside me.

My phone signaled that I had another text.

_Unknown: Heads up._

"Mike just keep your head covered and run, please," I said getting especially nervous since it was dark and we could barely see where we were going.

As we were walking down the hill I heard a whistling in the distance. It took me a second before I recognized the tune but whoever it was, they were whistling to the tune of Disconnected.

"Are you whistling?" I asked Michael just to make sure it wasn't him even though I don't know why he'd be whistling at a time like this.

"No." He said quietly.

"Oh god," I whispered to myself quietly in panic.

Then, a gunshot sounded. We crouched to the floor and held our breath for a second before sprinting towards the bottom of the hill. A second gunshot sounded even closer to us this time. We came into view of the 2 cars we had arrived in and everyone was rushing around shouting for us.

"Baby, go to the cars. Have Dave drive you somewhere safe." I said letting go of his hand which I honestly hadn't even realized I was still holding.

"What? No. I'm not leaving you." He said grabbing onto my hand again.

I whispered something in his ear.

"Luke... please be careful, I love you." He said before getting pulled away by one of the bodyguards.

"I love you too," I said a second later even though he was already too far away to hear me.

I reached into my jacket and pulled out a gun. I had brought it with me because I had a feeling Jeremy would show tonight and I had to be ready.

After they had taken Michael back to the cars I ran away, back towards where the sounds of the gunshots originated from. I had to end this once and for all. I wasn't about to let Jeremy ruin our lives more than he already has. I held up my gun and waited to see if he would show himself.

"Seriously Luke? You're really trying to play superhero to get Michael back?" I heard someone chuckle from behind me.

I'd only ever heard Jake's voice once but I mean the chance of him being the voice behind me was extremely high at this point.

I heard my bodyguards getting closer to us shouting for me to get back to the cars.

"I'm not trying to play superhero bastard, I'm just here to end this bullshit you started," I said angrily thinking about what started this in the first place.

"Ohhhh yeah that night me and your precious little Mikey had together while you were dying in the hospital? Ah, good times." He said smiling.

"Shut the hell up," I said stepping closer to him.

"You know I recorded the whole thing? I'll have to show it to you some time. I bet you'd love to hear the sounds of Michael crying and calling out for you to stop. He was drunk enough to think that his own boyfriend was doing that to him. What a shame." Jake said lowering his gun.

"You're lying," I said trying not to sound as sad as I really was.

Did Michael really think I was the one doing that to him? I mean of course now he knows it was Jeremy but while it was happening did he really think I would do that to him?

"Ask him for yourself. I mean that is if you even make it out of here alive." He said before raising his gun again.

Before I could even think of what to do or say, one of my bodyguards tackled him to the ground but not before another gunshot sounded, the bullet conveniently going straight through my shoulder. I didn't even register the pain for a couple seconds. Everything was happening so fast and someone grabbed me and was basically dragging me by the arm back to the car but before we could get there I heard one last gunshot and everything went black.


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLA AMIGOS SORRY TODAYS CHAPTER IS UP LATER IN THE AFTERNOON THAN USUAL I'VE BEEN TRYING TO PROOF READ IT SINCE SCHOOL ENDED TODAY BUT I KEPT GETTING DISTRACTED SO IM SORRY BUT HERES CHAPTER 13 ENJOY :))))))))))))))

**_August 13th_ **

***Third Person POV***

Luke woke up in a hospital bed once again. He'd been shot once in the shoulder and once in the chest. They came so close to losing him again. Luckily though, he fought to survive and it paid off. He needed to ask Michael something but at the moment he was asleep and he didn't want to wake him. He just laid in his bed and admired the love of his life. After a while, one of the security guards walked in and sat in the chair next to his bed.

"Luke." They said sounding hurt.

"What's wrong?" Luke said concerned.

"One of the other bodyguards they uh- he didn't make it out of there alive." They said sadly.

"Oh." Was all Luke managed to say.

After a minute Luke spoke again.

"So Jeremy he's still-" He didn't even get to finish

The bodyguard nodded.

Luke just looked down and didn't say anything.

"We're still leaving on Wednesday so uh when you get out of here pack a bag and be ready to go by 7am that morning." The bodyguard said before getting up and walking out of the room.

*

"Hey." He heard come from the opposite side of the room.

He saw Michael now sitting up and smiling at him.

He felt like if he even tried to speak he'd start crying. Someone had just died because of him and they didn't even catch Jeremy. Michael noticed the sadness in Luke's eyes and spoke up.

"I know what you're thinking Luke, none of this is your fault. Just like you said, everything will be okay eventually." He said while taking a seat next to Luke on the bed.

"I know." He said quietly.

There was one thing still running through his head.

"Do you still love me?" He asked Michael.

"Of course I do Luke. I never stopped loving you." Mike said holding Luke's hand.

Luke wanted to ask about what Jeremy had told him. The whole "he thought that was you doing that to him" thing but he didn't want to upset Michael so he just kept the question to himself.

**~**

**_August 15th_ **

It was now Monday afternoon and Luke had been in for two and a half days. The hospital was letting him go home today because even though he'd been shot twice he was feeling pretty good and he was stable.

**~**

It was 5pm when they got home and Luke could walk on his own, just not as fast as usual. They were at Michael's house which was 'home' to both of them by now. They both went to lay in bed and just held each other most of the night. No one was talking, the only sound that could be heard was the music that was playing softly in the other room.

It must have been at least an hour before Luke spoke up.

"M'hungry, He said before sitting up.

"I'll go make us something to eat. What do want?" Michael asked while getting up.

"Anything is fine," Luke said smiling.

Mike nodded and walked out of the room.

"Call me if you need anything." He said while walking down the hallway.

***Less Than 2.5 Seconds Later***

"comE BACK" Luke shouted once Michael was already down the hall.

"What must you want child?" He asked Luke.

"Okay one, I am NOT a child thank you very much and two, take me with youuuu." Luke said making grabby hands at Mikey, asking him to carry him.

"Ask nicely," Michael told him.

"Please take me with you daddy," Luke said knowing he hated when he teased him.

Michael shot him a death glare. A friendly death glare. A death glare that said, "Say that again and you'll regret it." But nonetheless he walked over to Luke's side of the bed and Luke got on Mike's back. So he gave him a piggyback ride all the way to the kitchen since it hurt him to walk on his own.

Right as he set Luke down on one of the chairs in the kitchen, the doorbell rang.

"Oh for christ sake who could that possibly be," Michael said before going to get the door.

Mikey's annoyed tone made Luke laugh.

Luckily when he answered the door it was just Cayla. It's been a couple months since either of them had seen her, with everything that's been going on they'd just lost contact for a while.

She walked inside and followed Michael to the kitchen.

"I brought food." She said placing the bags of Thai food on the table.

"Great timing," Luke said from his seat near the table.

"So, how is my otp doing???" She asked with a smile on her face.

"Did you just-" Michael started.

"She did," Luke said.

"don'T hatE ME OK YOU GUYS ARE REALLY CUTE." She said happily.

"We know." She heard come from both of the boys.

**~**

While they were eating Cayla's phone kept going off and every time she'd check it she'd have a giant smile on her face.

"Okay smiley give it up, who's the boy?" Michael said putting his fork down.

"Or girl. I mean we don't judge." Luke said.

Mike rolled his eyes jokingly.

"Do we know them?" Michael asked.

Cayla nodded.

"teLL US." They both said in unison.

"Calum." She said quietly.

"Louder Cayla." Michael said.

"FiNE. I said Calum." She said putting her phone away.

"nO fuCKING WAY."

"Oh mY GOD"

"Would you two calm down we aren't even together we've just been talking..." She said looking down at her phone again.

"When did you guys exchange numbers anyway?" Luke asked.

"In June. I kinda snuck into a club and apparently he had snuck in too and we just got to talking. I didn't recognize him at first but then I realized he was from the music video I sent you for one for their songs." She explained.

"So you're telling me you guys seriously didn't hook up after that?" Michael joked.

"I never said that." She said bracing herself for their reaction.

"oH MY GOD"

"ArE YOU SERIOUS"

"Here we go again," Cayla said getting up and walking over to the couch.


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout To My Best Friend Sid For Writing The Smut In This Chapter Since I'm Terrible At Writing Those Kinda Scenes Oops :) I don't know her Wattpad so when I find out what it is I'll credit her. Also if you don't want to read the smut you can kind of skip towards the middle/end of the chapter since it goes back to storyline written by me. Hope you all enjoy :)

***Michael's POV***

My baby boy and I just finished our movie so we were heading to bed so we could get up early since Luke had to be at the airport by 6. We make our way to the bedroom, stripping down to my boxers. When I look up, I see that Luke has already beaten me to it and is sitting against the headboard with one of his hands behind his head and one resting on a pillow due to his shoulder injury. But he's also wearing a smile that lights up his whole face. It's not until then that I noticed that he'd been staring at me since I walked in.

"What's that look on your face there?" I asked. A wide-spread grin stretched across his face as he chuckled and looked down, biting his lower lip. Holy shit that was hot.

"Come here," he said, gesturing me to his lap. I walk over shyly and straddle his lap. His skin feels warm against mine. He reaches for the duvet that was set at his feet and pulls it back up to the bottom of my back, which covers his thighs.

"You're so beautiful baby boy," I say to him as I run my hand through his hair, brushing it out of his eyes. Luke's hand reaches around to the back of my neck and pulls my head closer to his, making our foreheads touching.

"Boy, you are... my everything, and I wouldn't change that for the world," he says before placing his lips over mine. The kiss turns out slow and soft, having his lips caress mine. My heart wrenches each time we kiss. It hurts and I don't like this feeling. In fact, I hate it! I know he's leaving tomorrow and as much as I wish he wasn't, I can't do anything to change that fact.

It slows down before stopping, leaving our foreheads touching and our breathing deep but slow. "Baby, look at me," he says, his deep voice ringing softly in my ears.

I couldn't. Not now. If I do, I know I'll start crying, for god's sake, I'm on the verge of tears. I was looking down, playing with the hem of his shirt, trying to distract myself.

"Baby, please," he pleaded. No, please, not now. "Baby."

I looked up with tears all welled up in my eyes. When I looked up into his eyes, I lost it. Tears were flowing, my hands were shaking, It felt like the world was about to end. My head immediately faces down again, but Luke's hands reached up to my face and brought his face closer, kissing each tear away. Having his kiss take away my tears makes me calm down a bit even though there's still hiccups in me cries.

"Shhhh, baby please don't cry, you know I hate seeing you cry," Luke whispers.

"I can't help it knowing that you'll be leaving tomorrow, you'll be leaving me."

"Mikey, I will always be with you. I may not be here physically, but you do love me right?"

I stare into his eyes. They read of concern. I love him. I really do.

A tear slips out as I say, "Yes." It barely comes out as a whisper.

"I'll always be here, baby. I always will be," he said, as he pointed to my heart.

Another tear slips out before I grab his face and smashed his lips onto mine. Kissing my boy with all the love I had in me. He seems quite taken aback that I have approached him like this, but he slowly follows on.

His lips caress mine softly once again, before coming to a stop with our breathing breathless.

After a second, Luke flips us over so that now I bottom. His lips attach to my neck giving small kisses, carefully nipping at the skin here and there. My hands reach up to his hair and tugs the parts that are at the nape of his neck as I circle my legs around his waist. I feel the vibration on my neck as he moans when I pull on his hair. His lips quickly come up, from the base of my neck to the side of my ear. I feel his face hover over mine, so I open my eyes. His usual bright blue eyes are now a dark blue colour, showing love and need with tears welled up in his eyes too.

"Let me make love to you so you can see that I'll be your one and only. Always."

I nod at him, smiling before placing a kiss on his upper lip, his lower lip, and my last kiss on his lips. Our foreheads are touching, our breathing slow. Luke sucks in a deep breath before kissing my neck again, as I continue to pull on his hair. His lips lower, moving down my chest, giving my small kisses and love bites. My breath hitched in my throat. I think Luke sensed this because he looked up at me with a smirk evident on his handsome features. The lower he went, the less air that I was able to breathe. It was getting harder to breathe by the second. His fingers hooked onto the inside of my boxers and pulled them so slowly, my dick was aching. And when he pulled them down completely, I sighed of relief and closed my eyes. Luke's hands touched my shins and so utterly slow, he moved them upwards leaving kisses here and there on both sides, moved higher to my thighs, rubbing my skin in small circles before moving up, just touching the inside of them where I'm most sensitive. He's moved up to my hips. Higher. To my torso. Even higher. My aching lungs gasping for air this boy has literally taken away from me. Oh my, was I in a daze. His lips latched onto my neck and he crawled up to the side of my ear, leaving hickeys along the way. I can feel my erection against his clothed cock. His lips suddenly leave behind my ear, and I wince at the sudden coldness that the room has kindly provided. He gets off the bed as I sit up and watch him take off his shirt and pulls down on his boxers before stepping out of them. He smiles at me before grabbing a condom, then walking over to me, grabbing my face in both hands before kissing me again with so much force he releases the passion into the kiss, as he pushes me down onto my back and straddles me while pumping his length. I know this sounds so cliche, but it feels like electricity is running through my veins. That I'm on top of the world right now, that nothing and nobody can ever get in the way between us. Luke adds a little tongue into the makeout session while he puts on the condom. After he pulls up my leg and positions it to circle his waist, he brings up my other leg to do the same thing. He licks his fingers and rubs it against my hole just to get a feel before inserting one finger in, and thrusting it in and out for a couple minutes before pulling it out completely.

"You okay, baby?"

"Yes, keep going," I smile up at him.

"With pleasure, baby boy." He said as he rolled the condom onto himself.

I circle my arms around Luke's neck as he placed himself inside slowly, sending waves of an amazing yet unexplainable feeling throughout my body. He waits for me to adjust and when I give him the okay, he rocks his hips in perfect rhythm. His lips crept onto my neck, leaving love bites everywhere his lips went. There was no doubt that in this moment that my breath hitched in my throat. I love Luke. I love him. I can't believe that he's leaving tomorrow. But since he's here now, I should just be happy. I look up at him and place my own kisses on his neck, leaving hickeys where he's been leaving some on me.

"I love you," I repeat in between kisses and hickeys.

His thrusts were slow but deep with full of love and care. Everything was perfect in this moment. He is perfect.

"Baby, I'm close," I say as his thrusts become sloppy. I can tell that he's almost there too.

"Fuck, so close baby, but look at me. I want to look at you, look how beautiful you are," he says without a blink of an eye.

"You too are beautiful, and I love you," I reply as I hear his breath stall for a second before smiling and leaning down to kiss my lips.

"I love you so much baby," he replies just as he releases into me, the stain in his eyes as he does. Not long after, I release myself too, looking straight into his eyes as I'm feeling the strain and resistance to not close my eyes and arch my back.

After we both came down from our high, he rolled off me and pulled me on top of his body, his arm around my waist as he pulled the duvet up to our chests. We stayed in silence for a few minutes to catch up on our breathing. As much as I want to stay awake with Luke, my sleepiness is catching up to me quickly.

"I love you, Michael," he says as he presses his lips to my forehead, giving me multiple soft kisses. "Don't you ever forget that."

I turn my face up towards him and look him in the eyes, thinking that I can't hold sleep off for any longer.

"I love you more baby," I whisper before my eyes shut and sleep takes over me.

**~**

***The Next Morning***

***Michael's POV Again Bc I'm Trash And I Like Breaking People's Hearts :)***

I woke up to the sound of Luke's alarm going off. His phone was on the nightstand on his side of the bed so I couldn't reach it to turn it off.

"Lukey, wake up," I said while nudging him a bit.

"Just 5 more minu...." He said not even finishing his sentence before falling asleep again.

"Fine but could you at least turn off your alarm?" I asked the noise starting to actually hurt my ears.

No response.

Since I figured he wasn't going to wake up and turn it off I rolled on top of him so I'd be able to reach it myself.

Luke groaned into his pillow.

"Lazy ass," I said while setting Luke's phone back on the nightstand.

"I heard that." He said attempting to turn over.

"Get off me loser," He said trying to push me off him.

I ended up back next to him and facing him.

"What time is your flight?" I asked with a hint of sadness in my voice.

"Eight thirty." He said.

It was 5am now according to Luke's phone.

"Why are they making you leave so early?" I asked.

He sighed. "I don't know. They just want us out of here."

I frowned knowing it was partly my fault they were all being forced to leave. If I had just stayed with Luke and not gone to that party none of this would be happening.

"I'm gonna miss you," I said cuddling a bit closer to him.

"I already miss you." He said back.

We just laid in silence and held each other close wishing time would slow down or just stop altogether.

Then Luke's phone rang.

He let go of me and turned around to answer it.

I just laid there listening to Luke's voice. Is it possible to already miss his voice when he hasn't even left yet?

"I'm at Michael's house."

"Okay, I'll be ready by then."

"Yeah. I'll text you his address again."

"Bye"

*****

"Who was that?" I asked knowing it was probably one of the boys.

"Calum. Apparently, Dave was mad because I spent the night here instead of my house so now they have to spend extra time coming to pick me up and he's worried we're gonna miss our flight." He said looking slightly annoyed.

"Oh." Was all I said.

"Yeah and as much as I wouldn't mind missing my flight, they're gonna be here at 5:45 so I should probably go get ready." He said frowning.

"Want me to go make you some coffee?" I asked while he got out of bed and stretched.

"Please." He said smiling.

I smiled and got up to go make coffee not only because it was 5am but because we had gone to bed last night around midnight due to our "events" so we had only slept for a couple hours.

***15 Minutes Later Bc I Just Want** **Muke** **To Be Together***

I saw Luke walk into the living room and sit on the couch. I grabbed his coffee which today just happened to be in a Hannah Montana mug that Cayla had gotten me as a joke gift.

"Ah seriously? Hannah Montana?" He said once seeing the mug.

"You guys are basically the same person just drink it," I said laughing.

It was silence for a couple minutes after that. I desperately wanted to say our goodbyes before the other guys got here but I really didn't want to have to say goodbye.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw it was 5:35.

"Luke...." I said while setting my coffee down on the table in front of the couch.

Luke just looked at me. I could just see in his eyes that he was dreading this too.

"I hate goodbyes." He said quietly.

"I know you do," I said frowning and hugging him.

"I'm sorry." He apologized.

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked while pulling back from our hug and looking him in the eyes.

"Because I'm leaving you and you don't deserve that you deserve someone who can always be here for you physically." He said tearing up.

"Luke it isn't your fault that you're being forced to leave okay. It's for your own safety. I want you to be safe okay and if that means you have to leave me for a while then that's what you'll do. So as much as we hate being away from each other we'll make it work okay? It's only for a while. Nothing can tear us apart. I promise you. I'm here for you now and I'll still be here when you get back. I love you more than anything else in the world. Nothing is going to change that. I. Love. You." I told him while holding his hands in mine.

"What about you? Who's going to protect you? I can't let him hurt you again." He said with a tear running down his cheek.

"Lukey I'll be okay. Just please don't cry if you start crying, I'll start crying and I don't want to cry. I want our last moments together to be happy." I said wiping his tear away.

"Right I'm sorry." He said trying to dry his eyes and keep any more tears from falling.

"I love you, Mikey," Luke said before kissing me.

"I love you too Lukey," I said holding his hand and smiling at him.

The doorbell rang which we both knew were the boys rushing to pick him up. I quickly glanced at the clock to see it was 5:45.

Luke opened the door to see Ashton and Dave.

"Luke cmon we're already running late we have to go," Dave said quickly.

"Okay let me go get my bags," Luke said before running back to the other room where all his things were. He literally had left enough of his stuff at my house at this point that he just packed with all the things he had here. He pretty much lived here.

I stood by the door seeing Calum in the car with his headphones in and his head resting on the window. He briefly lifted his head to wave at me.

"Hey, Michael?" Ashton said.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Everything will be okay. I know you and Luke can get through this." He said smiling.

"Thanks," I said to him, feeling happy that he also believed me and Luke would get through this.

Luke appeared next to me with his bags in hand and a slight frown on his face.

"We'll take your bags," Dave said grabbing Luke's bags and handing one to Ashton.

They walked to the car while Luke and I stood there on the porch getting lost in each others eyes. Tears were threatening to fall from our eyes again. I kissed Luke one last time and felt a tear fall down my cheek.

"Hey, I thought you said no crying," Luke said trying to keep everything happy.

"I know I know," I said wiping the tear and taking a deep breath.

"Luke we aren't gonna make it to the airport if you don't hurry up," Dave said while getting in the car.

Luke nodded and apologized.

"Please remember that I love you and I don't care what time it is in Sydney if you need me please call me okay I won't be mad if you wake me up at 3am I just want you to be okay." He said giving a weak smile.

"I love you too. And same to you okay if you need me please call me." I said hugging him one last time.

"Luke," Dave said getting impatient.

"See you soon," He said before leaving a kiss on my forehead.

"See you soon," I said right back to him as I let go of him so he could walk to the car.

As he got in the car I felt as if I was going to start crying again. I saw him smile at me before he closed the door and they drove off.

I silently walked back into the house and just sat on the couch not knowing what to do with the rest of my day.

And it wasn't even 6am yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYYYYY GUYSSSS!!! I hope you're all having a fantastic Friday. I think next Tuesday I'm going to put up chapter 15 of coffee & vinyl. Don't get too excited it is a very mini chapter that just fills you in on some information. It's only about 200 words but I figured I'd post it on Tuesday. So, I hope you enjoyed today's chapter. Thank you all so much for reading. :)
> 
> Also if you could all go on Twitter and retweet a couple of the tweets on @MiaaStories I'd be very appreciative.


	16. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy guys! This is a very mini-chapter of Coffee & Vinyl just to fill you guys in on what's going on with Luke,Michael, and Jeremy. It's only about 350 words so I didn't want to just post it on Friday and give you guys that because you deserve a real chapter on Friday. :))) Also credit for the smut in the last chapter goes to niallizzie on Wattpad I love her to death and she is my favorite person in the whole wide world. You should all go follow her and read her story it's amazing I promise. I love you all and I can't wait for you to read the next chapter on Friday.

**_September 2nd_ **

***Third Person POV***

It was now September 2nd, Luke was due to come home on the 5th. It was around 6pm when Luke had called Michael to inform him that his management had changed their minds and decided Luke wasn't allowed to go home until their tour was over. The tour doesn't start until the 19th but they just didn't understand the point of letting Luke go back to LA and then having to fly him back to Sydney 2 weeks later. Their tour was a couple months long, they were playing 2 shows in Australia, a dozen in Europe, and then ending it with one final show in their hometown. 93 more days without Luke. He'd barely made it through the 2 weeks they've already spent apart, how was he ever going to make it through 3 more months?

Luke had also asked Michael for an update on whether or not he'd heard from Jeremy since he'd been gone. Jeremy was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he'd been thrown in jail? Maybe Karma finally decided to come back and bite him in the ass and got him run over by a semi-truck? Or maybe he'd just given up. They both hoped he'd just given up even though it was unlikely. If he was still watching Michael he wasn't making it as obvious as he used to. It scared Luke that Mikey was home alone all the time and was an easy target for Jeremy to hurt again if he wanted to.

What broke Luke's heart the most was that he wouldn't get to be with Michael on his birthday. He'd wanted him to have this perfect day on his birthday but now he wouldn't be there to celebrate it with him because of his job. He wished his job wouldn't get in the way of him being with the love of his life. He'd considered leaving the band a couple times since the Jeremy situation but he doesn't want to disappoint and upset so many fans. And besides he's living his dream, well one of them at least. Most nights he dreams of living the rest of his life with Michael.


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this chapter took longer to post today I'm on my way to 5sos so I've been busy getting ready and stuff :):) In this chapter you'll finally get to find out why Jeremy and Arzaylea hate Luke and Michael so much. Believe me they have a right to be mad to some extent just not this much. I'll let you guys find out for yourselves why they are how they are and I hope you all like this chapter :)) I love you all have a wonderful weekend.

*Jeremy's POV*

Everything is piecing itself together quite perfectly. Luke was sent back to his home town away from Michael, just how he should be. Michael is a mess and I can't begin to tell you how many nights this fucking sissy has cried himself to sleep since Luke left. I love seeing him broken down because he can't be with his perfect little boyfriend but nothing makes me as happy as when he realizes this is all his fault. If he would have just learned not to be such a fucking fag none of this would have ever happened. You know how much shit I got in high school for being friends with a queer?

Lea (Arzaylea) understands me and how I feel. We set this whole thing up. I made sure she was chosen to be Luke's cover up for the fact that he's a gay. I was watching them and I planned for them to conveniently run into each other at 7/11. She's helped me destroy them since the beginning. When did it all begin you ask? Well, one evening I was sitting in a local Starbucks with this girl I was babysitting, just minding my own business when a familiar face walked in. It was Michael. Once he was leaving, I told my the kid I had to go outside to take a call but in reality I went outside to write down Michael's license plate. Then I began keeping tabs on him. No one understands the grudge I hold with him.

We were best friends growing up, practically brothers. Michael never liked being at his own house because he didn't really fit in with his family. They made it obvious that they favored his adopted older brother over him and of course he was quite hurt by that. At first I felt bad for him so I constantly invited him to spend the night at my house. Until my parents started favoring him over me. What made it worse was that I got held back in the 9th grade, we remained best friends but once he graduated I was left behind. Did I mention my parents went to his graduation but didn't even bother coming to mine? They even helped him pay for college for a while until they found out he was gay. One day I was speaking to my mother and we were discussing why he could have disappeared, I accidentally let it slip and said maybe he had gone to live with his boyfriend in New York. To say she was upset would be an understatement, she was furious. She said she felt like her own sons had betrayed her, Michael for being gay and me for knowing and not saying anything.

My mother never spoke to me again after that day, except on the day she died. She laid on her death bed and told me to tell Michael she regrets getting so furious over something as stupid as his sexuality. I'll never forget the last words she said to me,

"Tell Mikey I'll miss him more than anything, and that I'm sorry I won't be there to see him get married some day. More than anything tell him I said thank you for being such a wonderful son all these years and that I love him and that never changed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Arzaylea's POV*

Since the beginning this has all been a mess, I got arrested and Jeremy almost died. He and I, we go way back before all that high school bullshit and before he decided he didn't want me. I was three years old when he was born, our moms were best of friends so we grew up together, we were practically siblings. We went through a lot growing up, my parents got divorced and his grandmother passed away on his 9th birthday, he was bullied for dressing differently than others and I was made fun of for something different. We said we'd always be best friends and we were so delusional we both thought we'd marry each other some day. Sure life was hard but being best friends made it worth living, until he met Luke. He met him on his first day of middle school, he told me all about his new best friend Luke when he came home and from that moment on, I was forgotten. I kinda fell off the wagon at that point and started hanging out with the wrong group of people. I smoked, I drank, I did drugs, I stole, I ended up pregnant. Who was the baby daddy you ask? Michael's older brother, Aaron.

Aaron was on the basketball team and had pretty decent grades, didn't stop him from living a secret double life though. He also, smoked, drank, did drugs, and got me pregnant. I know he isn't to blame because it does take two to get pregnant but in my defense at the time, I didn't know he was Michael's brother. They looked nothing alike and I didn't know their last names so I couldn't have connected the dots. Anyway, I was in a bad place and every decision I made was usually a bad one so I feel like this was kind of inevitable even though we could have easily prevented it. That makes little to no sense just follow along.

We were at our friend Shawn's house, drinking and getting high, as usual. His parents were gone for the weekend so there was probably like 15 of us just hanging out and doing dumb teenage things as I've already mentioned. So that night we were all high and drunk and just not in the right mind, somehow that led to truth or dare which never ends well. Since we were only around 15 and 16 most of us were still virgins, you'll understand why I'm telling you this soon enough. So, once it was Aaron's turn, he picked dare like a dumbass teenager would y'know? To seem like a rebel. The cheerleader of the group, Katherine, dared him to take me into one of the rooms upstairs and be my first. Which can I just say, who the fuck comes up with a dare like that? Romantic right? Not at all. I have one more question. Why are teenagers so fucking dumb? I wish I would have known better.

After my parents got divorced, me and my mom didn't have much of a relationship since I stayed with my dad most weeks. Mostly because my mom never had time to even acknowledge me due to the fact she had a different boyfriend every day. After my dad found out about the baby he kicked me out, only until after the baby was born though. Then he personally welcomed me back home randomly one day. He later told me it was because he was embarrassed being seen with his pregnant daughter so he decided he wanted to wait until after I had the baby. My dad raised the baby, which was a boy, and told everyone he was his. His name was Myles. No one but my close friends knew he was actually mine. I had dropped out of school shortly after I had found out I was pregnant so no one from school knew much, except for maybe the people who were at the party in the first place. I'm pretty sure they were too high, drunk, and dumb, to remember or figure it out. Aaron on the other hand of course knew and wanted nothing but to pretend he never knew me after that, which was fine with me. What wasnt fine with me though was the fact that he told his little brother, who you all know very well as Michael. He was a few grades behind us and y'know how teenagers can be, they tell everything they hear even when they promise not to. It's what they do. It's like a built in specialty that comes with teenagers, they gossip about EVERYTHING. Like you may have realized, I hate teenagers.

-

December 3rd

*Third Person POV*

Once inside the venue he looked for Luke and stayed a fair distance away once he found him so none of the boys would spot him just yet. It had taken him a while to get inside the venue itself so by the time he had found Luke it was about half an hour til showtime. Since he was keeping his distance he was in the room next to the boys' dressing room. It sounded like Luke was on the phone with somebody and Michael and Calum were shouting over what was probably a video game. He had seen Ashton walking around the venue with some friends earlier but he had no idea where they we're now.

At this point Dave and the rest of the crew were trying to get the boys to go finish getting ready and they all listened except for Luke. He remained of the phone with someone who could have been anyone ranging from his mom to Mila Kunis or something. He didn't hang up until 25 minutes later when everyone was yelling at him that it was almost time to go on stage. Luke had to pee and of course the nearest bathroom was about a 3 minute run away so his long ass legs had to carry him all the way there and back as quick as possible.

Once he got back he got dressed as best as he could in a 60 second frame. People were pushing him towards the stage and shoving his guitar and earpiece towards him and he could barely comprehend what was going on. They were already late to stage and right as he was being pushed on stage he spotted someone. He tried to stop everyone from forcing him up the stairs so he could tell Dave that he was here but it was too late.

The countdown begins now.


	18. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday Everyone!! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I realized earlier that after this chapter we only have about 3 left and that made my heart hurt just a little bit. Everyone who has read this story and voted or commented means so much to me and I hope you guys will continue to read my next story as it comes along. I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

December 3rd

*Luke's POV*

Tonight me and the boys are playing a show in Sydney to 12,000 people. It was our biggest show in Australia and in our career so we all felt proud to have made it this far. We were about to go to sound check and answer some of the fans questions. Calum and I went out in shorts and flip flops meanwhile Ashton had on, well I don't know he had on whatever he usually wears.

*After Sound Check*

We had just finished sound checking Wrapped Around Your Finger and now we were answering questions from the fans. Most of them were either about girlfriend rumors, Calum's leaked nudes, or just really random. Love my fans.

"What's the hardest part about being on tour? Is it being away from your girlfriend?" Someone had asked.

To which I had replied, "something like that I guess you could say."

Another person had asked, "What's one song you wish you performed live more often."

"Wherever You Are is one of my favorites it just makes me feel close to you guys and my loved ones." I said smiling.

"Aw." Was heard throughout the venue.

"Ashton what's your favorite pokemon?" Someone else had asked.

"I feel obligated to say Pikachu so let's just go with that." Ashton answered making the crowd laugh.

"How long do you guys think you'll be together as a band?" A guy in the crowd had asked. He kinda looked like Michael which made my heart hurt more than it should have.

*

*3rd Person POV*

"We're on stage in 2 minutes." Said Calum when he walked into their dressing to replace the flip flops he was wearing with his converse.

"Alright." Luke said to Cal before turning to his phone which was laying against a pillow in front of him on the couch.

"Babe I gotta go now." Luke said frowning at the camera.

"I wish I could be there to see you guys play to thousands of people in your hometown. I'm so proud of what you guys have accomplished in just a few years." Michael told Luke smiling just the tiniest bit trying to hide his sadness that he couldn't be there.

"I know," Luke sighed.

"We'll have a show in California soon. I'll make sure you're sitting front and center." Luke added and smiled

Once both their smiles faded Michael sighed and said "God I miss seeing you smile everyday."

"I miss smiling all the time when I'm with you." Luke said back.

"I love you." Said Mikey wishing he could just hold Luke in his arms.

"I love you too loser." Luke said giggling.

"Luke!" They heard Dave shout from down the hall.

"Yeah?" Luke shouted back even though he knew what was coming.

"You were supposed to be on stage five minutes minutes ago get your ass up and get out there!" He yelled after he had walked into the dressing room.

When Luke had heard Dave approaching he had shoved his phone in his back pocket so Dave wouldn't see that he was facetiming Michael. It's not that he would get in trouble or anything he just thought Dave would be mad that the fact he was on his phone is what made him late.

"Can I run to the bathroom first? Gotta Pee." He asked Dave.

Dave rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Alright go." He said.

Luke jumped up and ran down the hall towards the bathroom. He pulled out his phone to see Michael was still there fumbling with something off screen.

"Okay now I really gotta go." Luke laughed.

"I'll call you after the show okay? Love you babe." Luke told Michael.

"Love you too Lukey, have a good show." Michael said before hanging up.

*Dave's POV*

"Luke!" I yelled while looking for Luke backstage.

The rest of the boys were lined up and ready to go on stage but Luke was not in sight. I asked around to see if any of the other security guards had seen him but got nothing.

"Hey Emily have you seen Luke?" I asked one of the main guards who'd worked with the band for about a year now.

She wouldn't look up at me and was quiet for a while. I couldn't see her face since she was wearing a hat but I could see her chewing on her lip.

"Haven't seen him." She said quickly.

She sounded different than usual and I considered asking her what was wrong but since I was in a hurry I figured it could wait.

Once I found Luke I told him to hurry up and get on stage but he insisted on going to the bathroom. So he ran. I wasn't about to risk his bladder exploding on stage. No thank you. I knew he had been on the phone with Michael, the rest of the guys ratted him out. I decided not to say anything since I know these past few months have been hard for him and Michael.

We all knew not being able to see Michael upset Luke but it was for his own protection. The tour was ending soon and he'd be able to go home and rest up for a few weeks before a couple tour dates they have in the US. Neither of them had heard from Jeremy in months which was good. Really good. Luke felt better knowing that Michael felt safer since the threats and stuff stopped.

After Luke was done in the bathroom and through brushing his teeth, he quickly fixed up hs hair and put in his ear piece. We were at this point 10 minutes later than planned so we shoved the boys on stage and started the show.

*Luke's POV*

After I fixed up my hair and threw in my earpiece, I went and grabbed my guitar. Everybody was rushing us to the stage and when I turned around to ask for a bottle of water I saw a familiar face.

"No." I said so quietly theres no way anyone else heard me.

"Dave I think-" I started saying but was interrupted.

"Luke we don't have time for this. Go." Dave said continuing to push me up the stairs that led to the stage.

I decided I was probably just seeing things. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night so maybe my mind was just playing tricks on me. I ran on stage and we opened the show by singing one of our songs called 18. I think I messed up a couple times with the lyrics in that song alone. I just really couldn't focus or think straight. Next we sang Beside You and during that one I feel like I did a bit better and started calming down. After that was Heartbreak Girl, Heartache On The Big Screen, and Long Way Home. By now I was okay and enjoying the show a little bit more. I'm so grateful the crowd had so much positive energy, it really made me feel better.

*

Now we were performing my favorite song of ours so far, Wherever You Are. I've always loved performing this song live even if we rarely played it. It's always gotten so much positive feedback so its made me happy. We wrote this song for our fans over a year ago and we had never had much of a fanbase so for the people who had stuck with us since the beginning this was really special.

*

I was scanning the crowd and looking at all the smiles on everyones faces. It was so amazing seeing everybody sing our lyrics back to us. Everybody had their glow sticks and flashlight in the air and everybody was swaying back and forth. There was one person who was looking down at their phone though. I only noticed it because they were standing alone in the 4th or 5th row from the stage. It always upset me when people who were at our shows couldn't care less about us and just stayed on their phones the whole time. She had a hat covering her eyes so I couldn't see their face but I'm pretty sure it was a girl.

As the song came to an end everybody began turning their flashlight off and lowering their glow sticks. Next up was Disconnected, I used to love this song up until that whole situation with Jeremy. We could never disconnect ourselves from him no matter how hard we tried.

~

Oh oh o-o-oh, oh oh o-o-oh

Life's a tangled web

Of cell phone calls and hashtag I-don't-knows

And you

You're so caught up

In all the blinking lights and dial tones

I admit I'm a bit of a victim in the worldwide system too

But I've found my sweet escape when I'm alone with you

Tune out the static sound of the city that never sleeps

Here in the moment on the dark side of the screen

I like the summer rain

I like the sounds you make

We put the world away

We get so disconnected

You are my getaway

You are my favorite place

We put the world away

We get so disconnected

~

I scanned the crowd once again and right as I looked down at the girl who had previously been on her phone, she looked up at me. I recognized her face within a second. At first I thought maybe my mind was playing tricks on me again but this was just way too weird.

Oh oh o-o-oh, oh oh o-oh

She continued looking at me and put her finger up to her mouth as if telling me to be quiet. I continued to sing as normally as possible to avoid raising alarms. I figured maybe she just didn't know the definition of a fucking restraining order and didn't want me snitching on her. She's been arrested enough.

Throughout the song she slowly started working her way out of the crowd. She was running towards the exit at the back of the venue so I eventually lost sight of her. It's pretty easy to lose someone in a crowd of 12 thousand people.

We finally got to the last few verses in the song and I was thankful.

~

You are my getaway

You are my favorite place

We out the world away

Yeah we're so disconnected

Oh oh o-o-oh, oh oh o-oh

We're so disconnected....

~

The music stopped playing in my ear and all I could hear was dead silence.

"Shhh...."

Then, all the lights went out.

~

*Arzaylea's POV*

"Hey Emily have you seen Luke?" Dave asked me.

"Haven't seen him." I said, keeping my head down.

He stayed quiet for a second and seemed hesitant to ask something else before moving on down the hall. I grabbed my disposable cell phone from my pocket and pressed speed dial.

"Hey everything ready?" I asked when I heard Jeremy pick up.

"Yeah they're about to go on stage. I'm in the control room ready as ever." He responded.

"Took care of the guards?" I asked curiously

"Yeah they're gone. The people here are way too easy." He laughed.

"Nice. Are YOU ready to do this? I asked emphasizing the 'you'.

"Hell yeah I'm ready. Been waiting for this my entire life. Time to make their lives a living hell." He said happily.

"Where do you want me to wait?" I asked not having reviewed the plan fully through.

"Just blend in with the crowd, it shouldn't be too hard. But stand somewhere you know Luke will see you. Shake him up a bit. I'll text you when to start making your way out." He said sounding proud that we were about to pull this off.

"Can't wait." I said smiling.

"They're going on stage now I gotta go. See you soon." He said before hanging up.

I then made my way into the crowd of screaming teens and just waited.

The countdown has officially begun.

~

*Dave's POV*

A while after the boys went on stage I went to go find Emily and ask her what was wrong earlier. I asked around if anyone had seen her but everyone said they hadn't seen her since a couple hours earlier. I walked into the little lounge room the crew had for today. She wasn't in there so I went to go look in the buses and trailers. I walked up and down the isles of vehicles and found the few of them that were labled 'CREW" 1, 2, and 3. I went into 2 first and saw Greg and Bill, two of the other main body guards for the band.

"Have you guys heard from Emily? I tried calling her but she isn't picking up. She seemed kinda off earlier I just wanted to check on her. Now I'm getting worried." I said after peeking around.

"Haven't seen her." Said Bill.

"Last time I heard from her she said she was taking the boys to soundcheck." Said Greg while setting his drink down and standing up.

"You think somethin' happened to her?" He asked shortly after.

"I don't know." I said before walking out the door.

I quickly checked the other buses and RV's before running back inside the venue and rushing to the control room to ask for the security tapes. I know I sound like I'm overreacting but it's just really unusual for her to not answer her phone for this long.

I walked into the control room and there was only one man on the controls.

"Hi could you help me with something?"

The man spun his chair toward me and stood up.

"Sure, I'm Jeremiah. What can I help you with?"

"I'm Dave one of the bands bodyguards." I said showing him my lanyard which confirmed who I was.

"I think one of my coworkers, -I think something may have happened to her I was just wondering if I could see some security footage from earlier if you have any." I told him slowly becoming more scared that there might actually be footage of something happening to her.

"Wow okay let's see, uh- anywhere specific?" He asked while sitting back down and typing something on his keyboard.

"Do you have any cameras around the stage? I think she would've been around the stage at about four thirty." I said while nervously tapping my fingers together.

"Let's see, I have right side-stage at 4:45 is this what you're looking for?" He asked while backing up so I could see the screen.

"Yeah that's her." I said pointing at her little figure on the screen.

"Who's she talking to? Can you enlarge the picture?" I asked.

"Sure give me a second." He said before fumbling with his mouse and enlarging the picture for me.

After a minute he showed me the picture and said, "Here's as close as I can get before the picture becomes blurry and distorted."

"Thats okay. Can you send that to my phone?" I asked while writing my phone number down on a slip of paper I saw laying on his desk.

"Sure." He responded while typing my number into his computer.

"Do you have a shot of where she goes next?" I asked, worried about who she'd been talking to and why.

"I have her going back towards the dressing rooms but once she goes into the hallway we lose her." He told me.

"What? What do you mean we lose her?" I asked starting to become angry that no one knew where she was.

"The cameras in the hallways don't work anymore. No one wants to pay what it costs to repair them." He said calmly.

"Why the hell wouldn't you repair security cameras?" I said now very angry.

"Listen man I just work here if you want to complain to somebody go to my boss." He said before turning back around towards his computers.

"Yeah I will. Thanks for all your help." I said before exiting the control room and running toward the hallways where we lost her.

Once I got to the hallway I went and looked through every single room there was. There was probably over 15 rooms in this hallway alone and I was starting to lose hope that I'd ever find her. I had been so worried about her I hadn't even been supervising the boys on stage for over half an hour now. I had to go back and check on them soon but I really didn't want to give up my search for Emily. I went to pull my phone out of my pocket so I could call some of the other guards to ask if they'd heard from her since I had asked them last. Before I could I heard a banging noise.

"Emily?" I said quietly.

I went back and searched the rooms that were near me again but there was still no sign of her. I walked into the boys dressing room and sat down on the couch. I had my face in my hands and I didn't know where else to look. I heard the door shaking but when I looked up, the door was open. How could it be shaking if it was open? That's when out of the corner of my eye I saw the closet door shaking. I rushed to the door and slowly opened it. There was a second where I thought my heart was gonna stop beating. Emily was on the floor tied up with duct tape over her mouth and dried blood on her face. She trusted me to protect her and I let her down. She's always been like a daughter to me and I can't believe I let this happen to her.

"Emily who did this to you?" I asked after slowly and carefully removing the tape from her mouth.

"Lu-" She said before coughing and not being able to finish.

"Luke? Did he do this to you?" I asked confused.

She shook her head and tried speaking again.

"Lu-Luke's girlfriend." She whispered.

"Arzaylea?" I asked.

She nodded. Of course I believed her I just wondered why Arzaylea would be here when she clearly knows she has a restraining order against Luke.

"Her boyfriend too." She choked out.

"Who's her boyfriend?" I asked while trying to untie the ropes that were holding her wrists together.

"Th-the one who tried hurting them." She told me.

"Hurting who?" I asked.

"Luke and Michael." She answered.

"Wait- you mean Jeremy? Jeremy is here?" I asked her worriedly.

She nodded.

"They told me they had a plan to hurt Luke. You need to go help them Dave someone is gonna get hurt."

"What about y-" I started.

"I'll be fine I promise please go." She said slowly getting up.

"Get somewhere safe okay?" I said before running out and back toward the stage.

Jeremiah....Jeremy

It was him.

I was so worried about Emily I hadn't even noticed.

Arzaylea was who I spoke to earlier. She was wearing Emily's clothes. How could I not have noticed? Everybody's lives were in danger because of me. I pulled out my phone to call everyone and tell them to evacuate but I didn't have reception. Concert venues making phones lose reception is the worst thing in the world. I ran to the control room and walked in to see Jeremy sitting there already facing the door.

"Took you long enough to figure it out. Y'know it takes a real dumbass to not see two of the most threatening people to your job right in front of you. It doesn't matter now. You're too late." He said while standing up and walking toward me.

"Shut it down, Jeremy."

"And why would I do that?" He said reaching something behind him.

"Because Jeremy, do you really want to spend the rest of your life in jail because of something so pathetic like this?"

"THIS is not pathetic. YOU are pathetic. You couldn't even keep these people safe. You couldn't do your job. That's pathetic." He told me getting all up in my face.

"Rot in hell." I said angrily.

"See yah there." He said before I was struck in the head.


	19. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Sorry, this chapter is up a bit late, I've been meaning to edit it for days now and this week flew by incredibly fast. By the time I realized it was almost Friday I was buried in homework and had no time to edit. I promise next week it will be up earlier for you guys to read. I do want to warn you guys about this chapter, there is a lot of death, a lot of touchy subjects, and a lot of sadness. There may be possible triggers in here and use of very homophobic slurs. Please know I don't mean to offend or upset anyone, I've added a new warning to this story so please go make sure you're okay with everything on the list in the description before reading. I love you all and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**December 3rd**

***Luke's POV***

My eyes opened just the smallest bit and all I saw was a blur. There was loud painful ringing in my ears and I had no idea what was going on around me. I tried moving but I felt pain everywhere. I tried lifting my head but I couldn't feel a thing. I tried opening my mouth to call for help but before I could, I felt myself being dragged away. My hearing started to come back to me and I heard screams. My ears were so sensitive I could hardly take it. I winced at how much the noise was and my eyelids became heavy and I felt tired. Not too soon after I felt myself start to go numb. As my eyes fell closed I heard somebody whisper in my ear.

"Bye bye Lukey."

Then, I felt darkness.

**~**

***Third Person POV***

All that could be heard were the terrified screams of over 10 thousand people rushing out of the venue. You could smell the flames that had risen and grown to engulf the building. Only seconds had passed since the bombs had detonated yet thousands of people were already talking about it on social media. Everybody towards the back of the venue was able to escape fairly quickly, while people toward the middle pushed and shoved toward the exits in large groups. The venue was an indoor venue so everyone who was trapped in the crowd of thousands couldn't do anything but inhale the smoke that was viciously spreading throughout the building. Security was rushing onto the stage to help the 3 unconscious band members. They dragged Calum backstage, then Ashton was next. There were no paramedics to save them.

The rest of the team went back on stage to get Luke backstage with the other boys but he was gone. There wasn't much of a stage left so it was possible he was buried under all the wreckage and equipment but nobody could find him. One of the bodyguards stood on what was left of the stage and looked at the big space that was just moments ago filled with thousands of people. There were hundreds of bodies on the floor; bloody, hurt, unconscious. There was nobody who was allowed to help. He walked off stage and back to where Calum and Ashton had been backstage. They moved them outside so they could try to get them to the nearest hospital.

*

Ashton was far gone before they could get him into an ambulance. A piece of shrapnel was jammed in his throat. By the time the ambulance was able to get to him he had already bled out.

It took the ambulance 3 times longer to get Calum to the hospital because of all the traffic there was with everyone trying to get away from the venue. They lost him twice before they even got to the hospital. The first bomb had detonated between all the boys. Ashton had been playing his drums, Luke and Calum had been standing about 15 feet away from each other on stage. When the bomb went off it threw them all in opposite directions. Calum had been walking across the stage so he was closest to the blast but he was fighting to stay alive.

~

Once they arrived at the hospital they performed emergency surgery on Calum. He had lost most of his blood and they couldn't find enough to keep him alive. Part of his guitar had broken during the blast and gone straight through his chest and into the right side of his heart. They had tried their best not to move it but chances are if they don't take it out soon he's gonna die either way.

The doctors decided they'd try to take it out and repair all his internal injuries as quickly as they could. Since the neck of his guitar was lodged into his heart they had to be extremely careful. If they tear anymore or cause any more damage he'll die almost instantly. They prepared to remove it and worried about all the splinters that were surrounding his major wound. It was a miracle he'd survived this long but nobody expected him to hold on much longer.

~

He crashed the second they moved the neck of the guitar. They tried everything they could but he was just too hurt beyond repair.

*

Liz (Luke's Mom) rushed to the hospital only minutes after she'd heard of the accident. She asked if Luke had been admitted yet but nobody could find his records. 

Even though the venue had been evacuated almost 2 hours ago they allowed paramedics to enter and search for Luke. Nobody had any luck in finding him.

**_December 6th_ **

The police had been investigating the scene for almost 3 days now. The bomb had started a fire and the fire had burnt down most of the venue, so going through the wreckage felt endless. Lots of people had been trapped and were probably still here somewhere, alive or dead. Tonight they have to tell dozens, hundreds, of families that the chances of their loved ones being found alive are close to nothing.

Miracles happen, they do, just not here, and not today.

**_December 3rd_ **

***Michael's POV***

It was around 3am and I was just drifting off to sleep. It had only been about an hour and a half since I had gotten off the phone with Luke and because of time zones, it was a lot later here. I had soft music playing off my phone and I wasn't able to fall asleep because I was so excited to finally get to see Luke so soon.

While I was still just a tiny but conscious I picked up my phone and texted Luke one last time for tonight.

_"Can't wait to see you tomorrow baby. I love you."_

Sleep took over before I could hit send.

*

I was woken up only an hour later by someone banging on my front door. I was barely awake but I was conscious enough to grab something in case there was an intruder. Luke normally handles the scary noises at night thing so I'm not very good at it. I don't really have an idea of who would be at my door at 4am other than an intruder.

I got to the door and whoever was at my door was still knocking just not as loudly. It had turned into more of a weak knocking. I slowly and quietly looked through the curtains on the window. I was surprised when I saw Cayla with her face buried in her knees. I opened the door and could hear her sobbing.

"Cayla?" I said gently crouching down to where she was.

She started crying harder.

"Cayla, come inside it's okay," I told her.

She didn't move.

I slowly lifted her up and walked her inside. She was moving on her own and holding herself up but she felt like a dead body. She was freezing and shaking from being outside in 20-degree weather. I sat her down on the couch and laid a blanket over her shoulders.

I went to the kitchen to make her some hot chocolate to warm her up a little. I got the milk out of the fridge and when I turned around she was standing there silently with tears rolling down her face.

"Cayla? Are you okay? Can you hear me?" I asked looking into her eyes. They were glossed over and empty. I couldn't see a single sign of emotion other than the tears in her eyes.

"Cay-" I started.

She whispered something so quietly that I couldn't make out her words.

"Can you say that again Cayla? Please. Just a little louder."

"Calum, he's dead." She told me before falling down on her knees again.

She began sobbing into her hands.

"What..? Cayla are you sure?"

She looked up at me and nodded while wiping the tears off her face.

In a panic, I rushed to the living room to grab my laptop so I could see if there was any proof or information on what she was telling me.

*

I googled Calum's name which came out more like 'Caulm Hodo' since my hands were shaking so hard. The first headline I saw made my heart drop.

**_ 5 Seconds of Summer Killed In Tragic Accident _ **

I quickly clicked on it and read through the article.

**_Tonight during 5 Seconds of Summers' Sydney stop on their tour multiple bombs detonated inside the venue. Drummer Ashton Irwin, 20, was confirmed dead at the scene. Bassist Calum Hood, 19, was rushed to the hospital and taken into emergency surgery. He died a short time later. Information on lead singer and guitarist Luke Hemmings, 19, has not been released to the public yet. What we do know is that there is over 100 confirmed dead and we hope there will be no more casualties to this terrible tragedy._ **

I sat staring at the screen in shock. This had to be a nightmare. I have to wake up. I have to see Luke again.

I hadn't even realized Cayla was now sitting next to me.

"Luke could still be alive. Don't give up on him." She said weakly while hugging me.

_"Luke could be dead,"_ I thought to myself.

I may never get to hear his voice again. I may never get to feel his warmth ever again. I need Luke. I can't live without him. If he's dead, I'm right behind him.

**~**

**_December 7th_ **

***Luke's POV***

I slowly opened my eyes for what felt like the first time in years. Even though I knew for sure that my eyes were open, all I saw was darkness. I could hear voices not too far away that sounded all too familiar.

"Jeremy, what are we gonna do with him? You killed him and now we're stuck with a worthless dead body. I should never have helped you with this, you were so stupid to think-"

*gunshots sounding*

"Jesus finally some peace and quiet," I heard Jeremy say.

_"Am I dead?"_ I thought to myself.

I can't be dead. I was supposed to go home and be with Michael for the rest of my life. Oh my God, Michael. He's probably freaking out right now. I need to get out of here. I need everyone to know I'm okay.

I tried moving my arms but I felt so weak I could hardly move them. I got myself to move them probably an inch before I heard chains rattle and felt cold metal against my wrists.

I hoped Jeremy didn't hear the chains rattling. I was sure he'd kill me.

Before I could hope anymore I felt a bag being taken off my head.

The light from the building was painfully blinding but I could see Jeremy standing over me with the evilest grin I'd ever seen.

"Morning sleeping beauty," He told me smiling.

"Shut the hell up," I told him.

He stepped on my ankle, shattering it completely.

I screamed in pain.

I looked down at my ankle and realized my right leg wasn't there. Jeremy must have seen me looking because he commented a second later.

"About that... After the accident, we had to cut off your leg because it was in such bad shape. You'll probably never walk again but oh well." He said.

"Fuck you," I told him trying to hold back tears.

"Stop ruining my fucking life haven't you done enough?" I added.

He shook his head.

I heard faint crying and when I looked up, I saw a live-feed of Michael at home. He was sitting on our bed looking through pictures of us together. I was so focused on him and wishing he could know I'm okay. I realized there was a time frame and date in the corner of the screen. It read 'December 7th, 2014', I'd been out since the night of the 3rd. Michael thinks I'm really dead. I'm not dead but are Calum and Ashton? They weren't here with me which I was thankful for since Jeremy is probably planning on killing me but were they even alive?

The feed of Michael cut off and a news broadcast appeared on the screen. The news reporter said all of us were killed in the accident along with over 180 other people. Everybody thought I was dead.

"Looks like you're causing a lot of people pain Lukey." He said tugging at the chains that were keeping me from moving.

"Then let me go so they can know I'm okay," I told him.

"I'll wait til after your funeral to do that," He said.

"I'm not going to have a funeral. They know I'm alive, they can't give up on me."

"We'll see about that." He said before wrapping his hands around my neck.

"Jeremy plea-" I tried to say before he tightened his grip on my throat.

I tried my best to fight back but it was useless.

I'm going to die. I'm never going to have a chance to propose to Michael. I'm never going to have a chance to wake up next to him again and see his smile and hear his raspy voice.

I'm already dead to him.

This is all my fault.

**~**

**_December 13th_ **

***Third Person POV***

_"We are gathered here today to celebrate the lives of Ashton Irwin, Calum Hood, and Luke Hemmings. We all tragically lost someone we deeply loved. They wouldn't want us to hurt, they would want us to keep their legacy alive. They would want us to remember them as the happy, music loving boys they were."_

*

_"There are a couple people who would like to say a few words about their loved ones."_

A girl walked to the front of the room where 3 caskets laid peacefully. One completely empty, that will still be buried so that Luke can rest in peace. They may never find him but he'll always have a place in everyone's heart.

"Hello everyone, I'm Mali and firstly thank you all so much for coming, it means a lot to me, my family, and the families of Ashton and Luke. I remember the day Calum came home from school ecstatic because they had come up with a name for the band. He locked himself in his room and played his guitar for the rest of the day. He dedicated his life to this band and I knew one day they'd make it to playing venues to thousands of people. I watched them play at the Annandale Hotel back in 2011. There may have only been 11 people in that crowd but from what I saw, they were all having an amazing time. They all enjoyed it so much. I talked to a couple of them after the show and we all knew the same thing, these guys were gonna make it as a band. We could all feel it."

She stopped speaking and turned around toward the caskets for a couple seconds. You could hear her quiet sniffles, trying to hide the fact that she was crying. She wanted to stay strong for Calum and if she started to cry she wouldn't be able to stop.

She turned back around and continued speaking.

"Calum, Ashton, Luke, you made it. You played shows to thousands of people and put your heart into every show you've ever performed. We're all so proud of you. Thank you for bringing so much light and happiness into our lives. We'll always remember and miss you guys. We love you."

She walked off the stage, mouthing "thank you" to some people who stopped her on her way back to her seat.

Next to speak was Ashton's mother.

She walked to the front of the room, cheeks puffy from crying. Nobody could figure out how she was holding it together long enough to speak in front of everyone.

"Thank you all for coming, I know these boys are very grateful that all of you came here today. I remember the day Ashton was born like it was yesterday. All three of these boys deserved much more time than what was given to them. I know that they're up in the sky playing shows to everyone who's listening. I think it brings peace to all of us knowing they went together and will stay together forever. Ashton always did so much for me and I never had the chance to repay him for being such an amazing son. I'm sorry Ash. I miss you. I-I'm sorry."

She covered her eyes and cried loudly. Her young daughter Lauren walked up on stage and hugged her. There was so much pain in the room it was almost unbearable. Lauren slowly guided her back to her spot in the crowd where she took some tissues from her purse that she'd put there to give to anyone who needed them.

About a minute later, Michael walked to the front of the room. He was shaking and you could see every emotion he was feeling on his face. There was sadness, guilt, nervousness, anger. He was feeling everything. He had been the most affected throughout this whole situation, it may seem rude to say but imagine knowing your boyfriend is dead because of somebody you knew and made angry in the first place. Everybody blamed him, it wasn't just himself it was everybody. The fans were sending him so much hate and so many death threats that he had to be escorted everywhere by police. He was even escorted here today because they were afraid a crazed angry fan would find out where the funeral was and try to hurt him. It was getting out of control.

"Uh hi, I'm Michael, I'm glad I could be here today to celebrate the lives of these really amazing guys. I got to hang out with Calum and Ashton a couple times and they were honestly some of the nicest guys I'd ever met. I'd known Luke for a while before I met Calum and Ashton. Luke and I met because I was low on money for a long time so I was going to hitch-hike to Michigan to stay with some of my relatives there. Before I could, one of my friends told me about a job opening at a record store she shopped at frequently. I got the job and decided to stay in Los Angeles, I'd built a home for myself there. Then one day after work I decided to go to Starbucks on my way home and there, I met Luke. He was probably the sweetest barista I'd ever met. After that, we became incredibly close and I loved him like family. He was so supportive, kind, friendly, generous, and positive. No matter what was going on he'd be able to cheer me up in seconds. Even today, I try to stay positive for him, I know that's what he would have wanted for all of us. He loved seeing people happy as much as we all loved seeing him happy. We'll never forget how his smile or laugh was so contagious. We'll never forget everything he did for us. We love you, Luke."

_"Rest in Peace baby."_ He whispered as he rested his hand on Luke's coffin.

Right as he was about to walk off the stage, Luke's father stood up. He pointed at Michael angrily and yelled.

"You f*cking f*ggot! You killed my son. This is all your fault. All these people are dead because you couldn't keep your f*cking legs closed! Get the hell out of my sight. I never want to see you again." He said grabbing Michael from the collar of his suit.

Once he let him go, Michael quietly walked out of the building and sat outside on the steps. He buried his face in his hands and cried. He'd started wishing that he could die and be with Luke because all he wanted was to be with Luke. He just couldn't decide how he wanted to die, that's all he needed to decide before he would be able to be with Luke and be happy again.

"Michael?" He heard Luke say softly.

But when he looked up, nobody was there. ****


	20. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! This is the second to last chapter of Coffee & Vinyl. Can you believe it? I'm currently writing next week's final chapter and honestly, I can't get through it without wanting to cry just a little bit. I love this story so much and the fact that I lot of you guys love it too means so much. This chapter is a lot to take in so please prepare yourselves. Also, I've added a new tag in the description of the story so please go make sure you're okay with everything on the list before reading. This was honestly the hardest chapter to write in this entire book so I hope nobody is hurt or offended by it. I love you all and I just want you to enjoy the chapter. Thank you for reading. :) Also after next week, I'll be doing a Q&A chapter so if you'd like to ask me or any of the characters questions please comment. You can also email me, tweet me, or leave a comment on my Instagram.
> 
> email: miaastories@gmail.com  
> twitter: charliccox  
> instagram: lgbtqhood

**_December 25th_ **

**_9AM_ **

***Luke's POV***

I was woken up by the terrible sound of Jeremy singing Christmas tunes. It was actually terrible, not that I'm surprised or anything just shocked that there's someone in the world who sings THAT badly.

He was currently singing Jingle Bells and decorating the room with Christmas lights. I knew he was planning something bad, I could feel it. I looked around the room and noticed a small artificial light up tree. Under the tree, there was a single box with a bow hanging off the side. It wasn't wrapped it was just a cardboard box that was taped shut. I had a feeling that whatever he had planned to hurt me was inside that box. He'd kept me here for about 3 weeks now and I wasn't dead which could be a good or bad thing. He could be waiting to kill me or he may not kill me at all. He'd fed me under the condition that after every meal I had to throw it back up and if I didn't, I wouldn't get to eat for 3 days.

He's tortured me, he made me say over and over that I never loved Michael. If I hesitated to say it, he'd rip off one of my fingernails. Since I refused to say it even once, I'd had all 10 of my nails torn off. I was never ever going to let myself speak a bad word of Michael. I don't care how much pain I have to endure, I'll get through it for Mikey. I'll get through it, go home to him, and propose to him. I've been wanting to propose to him for a while now, I just couldn't find the right time to do it. The sh*t we've gone through in the 9 months we've spent together is insane, but it brought us closer to each other every time. It made us appreciate each other and realize we only have such limited time together. I'm grateful for everything that has happened and I know we can make it through this, just like we made it through everything else.

"Merry Christmas Lukey," Jeremy said, putting a Santa hat on my head.

"Do you believe in Christmas miracles Lukey?" He asked me after a minute.

"Stop calling me Lukey," I told him strictly.

"Why? Is Mikey the only one who's allowed to call you that? Well, guess what? I don't really care," He told me.

"Now, let me ask again, do you believe in Christmas miracles?"

"Ask me again after today then I'll have an answer for you," I said laying my head on the concrete wall.

"You think you're magically going to escape and go home to Mikey all because of some Christmas miracle?"

"No, actually I'm hoping that by some crazy Christmas miracle you'll drop dead and I'll finally get to be free of you and your bullshit,"

"Aw honey, maybe Santa will make your wish come true next year." He said pinching my cheek.

He walked to the little Christmas tree and grabbed the small box. He brought it over and dropped it in my lap. It wasn't heavy at all but I had lost so much weight and muscle that it felt like he'd dropped a rock.

As I'd seen before, the box was taped shut and my hands were chained so I didn't know how he expected me to be able to open it.

"Right, you're useless... I forgot," He said turning around and going toward a table in the back of the room. He grabbed a knife and walked back toward me to open the box. He sliced through the tape on the box and laid the knife on the floor next to me.

_If only I could reach it._

He tore the box open the rest of the way and turned it upside down. I saw a tape fall out of the box and onto my lap. It had a label on it that read, "Michael Video 7/19."

I immediately knew what was on that tape and it needed to be destroyed. Before I could make even the smallest attempt to damage it, he'd picked it up and walked over to a VCR which he'd hidden under a blanket.

"It's movie night Lukey, sit back and enjoy." He said while sitting on the floor next to me and cuddling into my side.

As the video started I saw Michael walk or more like stumble into a room. He was mumbling incoherent words and Jeremy was holding him up.

"I miss Luke." He said with a sad voice.

"I'm right here baby it's okay," Jeremy told him.

"He bought that. He was so piss drunk and miserable he couldn't tell who was who. You left him and made him miserable," He whispered in my ear.

I closed my eyes and turned my head away from the screen.

"Baby, watch it, if you don't I'll have to kill you and then taunt and torture Michael for the rest of his pathetic life." He said after grabbing my chin and turning my head back toward the screen.

I looked towards the screen again and frowned. Michael was now laying on a bed which I assumed was Jeremy's bed and cuddling a pillow.

Jeremy pulled him by his legs to the foot of the bed.

"Lukey...M'tired," Michael whined trying to crawl back to his pillow.

"You can sleep later baby, you have work to do right now," Jeremy told him.

"Work?" Michael asked sitting up.

"Yeah, you get to be my little toy tonight. I get to use you." Jeremy said to Michael while slowly sliding his hand up his thigh.

"Lukey I don't want to do this," Michael whined trying to stop Jeremy's hand.

"Be quiet," He told him strictly.

"Luke please stop," Michael cried.

Jeremy began to unbutton Michael's pants even with Michael trying to push him off. Michael was thin and pale, he couldn't fight him off. This is my fault. He's thin and pale and defenseless because I wasn't there for him.

"Luke please get off me I don't want this." Michael cried louder.

"You don't have a choice," Jeremy told him while removing Michael's pants completely.

"Keep watching, the best parts almost here," Jeremy whispered in my ear.

I felt like I was going to throw up if I had to watch anymore, but I had to, to save Michael.

**~**

**_5PM_ **

***Michael's POV***

I had flown to Sydney for Luke, Ashton, and Calum's funeral a couple weeks ago. Their families had decided on one big funeral instead of 3 smaller ones, they figured most people would have ended up going to all three anyway. Cayla had flown out here with me. Turns out she and Calum were actually a couple and not just a one night stand. I loved Cayla so dearly for trying her best to help me and put her sadness aside but the truth was, we both needed to grieve alone and at our own pace.

Ever since December 3rd I've had the same reoccurring nightmare of how Luke died. I'd see him crying out for me, bloody, with only a few limbs still attached. I'd hold him, try to stop the bleeding, and try to get him to focus on me instead of the pain. He would eventually bleed out and stop breathing and I'd lay him down gently before standing over his body in fear. I'd be covered in blood and breathing rapidly. Then I would wake up crying and screaming for Luke. The only way I could calm myself down was to tell myself over and over that he's in a better place now. He doesn't have to feel pain anymore.

I missed him. I needed him.

*

I'm sitting with him today on what would have been our first Christmas together. It sounds cheesy but I was planning on taking him on some really cute Christmassy date and then I was going to propose to him on New Year's Eve. For Christmas, I had ordered him this little coffee mug that had records all over it along with some music notes here and there. It sounds silly but if I hadn't gotten that job at the record store I would've had to go live with some family far away or I would've ended up homeless. For a while before I met Luke I had to juggle school and 3 different jobs. I needed the money desperately and I had to work 24/7 in order to get where I wanted to be. If I hadn't of gotten that job at the record store and Luke wouldn't have gotten a job at Starbucks, chances are we would never have met. We met because of music and Starbucks.

I love Luke more than I've ever loved anybody. He made me feel like nothing mattered except for us and our happiness. I knew he was who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with ever since that first night that he stayed over at my house. When I woke up next to him the next morning I felt so incredibly happy, it was unexplainable. I watched as he peacefully slept and listened to the quiet little snores he made that were barely audible. I kissed his forehead and wrapped my arm around his waist as a small smile appeared on his face and his eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning cutie," I had told him.

He hid his face in his pillow and smiled widely.

"Stop it!!" He giggled.

"But you're adorable," I argued.

"Nooooo stop," He continued.

"Never," I said before scooting closer to him so I could reach his lips.

"I really like you," I told him while he cuddled into my side.

"I really like you too," He smiled.

"I love you," I thought to myself.

Or at least I thought I said it in my head...

I had accidentally said it out loud, but does it still count as an accident if I meant it?

Luke had stayed silent and I feared that I had scared him away with just those 3 words.

As soon as I opened my mouth to apologize, he spoke.

"I love you too," He said looking at me with a nervous but cute smile on his face.

I thought my heart would explode from pure happiness.

**_~End of Flashback~_ **

I was tired of living without Luke. I wanted to be with him and I was done waiting for my misery to end on its own. I needed Luke.

I took a piece of paper I'd written my final words on and laid it next to Luke's grave. I then laid my phone and my keys on top of the paper to keep it from flying away. I reached into my pocket a final time to pull out the dozens of sleeping pills I'd been carrying around all day. I laid down so that my head was next to my belongings and next to Luke's name that they'd carved so beautifully into his grave. I looked up at the bright summer sky before making my final decision.

"I'll see you soon Lukey," I said once the damage was done.

There was no going back now. I didn't want to go back. It was finally over. I could finally be happy again with Luke.

~

**_6PM_ **

***Luke's POV***

The video Jeremy made me watch was over an hour long. I tried so hard to have no reaction to it so he wouldn't get the reward of knowing that he was hurting me. I could feel so much anger and frustration building up inside me and I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't mean to have tears fall down my cheeks while I fought against the chains that were keeping me against the wall.

My arms had gotten just small enough over the past couple weeks that if I was really careful I could maybe slip them out without Jeremy knowing. He'd left the knife he used earlier just a couple inches away from me, and if I tried hard enough I would be able to reach it. He had left a while ago and I didn't know where he'd gone or when he'd be back. I slowly tried to slip my hands out of the cuffs he had them locked in but it was no use. It would probably be another couple weeks before they were small enough to fit through it easily.

*

Before I knew it I heard the door open and close a few seconds later.

"Oh Lukeyyy?" Jeremy sang.

He walked into the room and came toward me.

"Guess what?" He asked me.

"You're letting me go because it's Christmas and you've had a sudden change of heart?" I said with a hopeful tone.

"Not yet, but I brought you another present." He said smiling.

"Wow... thanks," I said unenthusiastically.

"You wanna know who I brought you?" He taunted.

"I don't have anything to lose anymore so- wait did you say who?" I asked once I realized what he'd said.

He nodded.

I didn't know if I hoped that it was Michael or not. I needed him here and I wanted to stay alive for him but I didn't want him to have to be here and suffer through Jeremy's torture. I just wanted it to end.

"Why don't we see who I brought you, Lukey?"

I braced myself for whoever was about to come through the door.

*

I was confused and shocked when Cayla walked into the room.

"Cayla?" I asked myself quietly.

"I'm so sorry Luke," She told me.

"Your little friend here was my key to you and your precious Mikey. How do you think I kept tabs on you so well?" Jeremy said.

_Cayla was helping Jeremy?_

"You idiots trusted her enough to tell her every single thing that goes on in your life. She's jealous of what you guys have. Isn't that right Cayla?"

She nodded slowly.

"Luke, ever since you came along I've hardly been able to see Michael anymore. He discarded me for you." She told me.

"Cayla, that's not true, he loves you, you're his best friend," I told her truthfully.

"No! You're all he cares about anymore he hardly remembers me!" She screamed.

"Even Calum told me you were planning on proposing to Michael. Why can't I just have somebody love me?" She cried.

"Calum loves you. You can have something like that with him." I told her mindlessly.

"Calum's dead! God don't you remember anything? Everyone around you is dying and I'm not about to be next."

An ear-piercing gunshot was heard and before I had time to process what was happening, Cayla was on the floor.

"Spoke too soon I guess," Jeremy shrugged.

I was frozen with fear and I didn't know what to do anymore.

"Why would you kill her?!?!" She never did anything to you, Jeremy!" I shouted.

"I didn't kill her, you did, and besides, if she lived she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut about me to the cops. She deserves to be dead, just like your friends."

For the first time, it hit me. Ashton and Calum are dead. The guys who I've called my best friends for years are gone.

Jeremy continued speaking to me but I wasn't listening. He had killed everyone I love and I had no one. He's most likely going to kill me too so why fight anymore?

He came toward me and began yelling at me to listen to him but before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted.

We both turned toward the door after hearing sirens in the distance getting louder meaning they were approaching wherever we were.

I had such little hope in my head that maybe, just maybe, they'd found me.

But how would they ever find me?

"FBI! Open up!" A man shouted before there was a loud banging on the door.

They'd found me.

I couldn't help but smile weakly and feel relief take over my body.

"Wipe that look off your face Hemmings, they may have found me, but they sure as hell aren't gonna find you alive. I win," He said pulling a gun out of his jacket and pointing it at me.

He pulled the trigger right as the door swung open.

I didn't have a choice but to realize, he'd won.

**_*Somewhere between life and the afterlife*_ **

_I opened my eyes and found myself lying on the floor of what seemed like a big white room. I looked down and realized I now had both of my legs. When did I get my leg back? How did I get my leg back?_

_I stood up carefully to try and figure out where I was. I could walk perfectly fine as if I'd never lost my leg to begin with. There was nobody around and it was painfully silent._

_Am I dead?_

_"Hello?" I said quietly._

_I didn't mean to say it so quietly I was just scared._

_"Luke?" I heard somebody whisper softly behind me._

_I turned around and saw Michael standing there with puffy cheeks and tears in his eyes._

_"Mikey?" I whispered confused._

_I ran toward him and wrapped my arms around him, securing him in the tightest, warmest hug in the world._

_After a couple seconds, I pulled away and kissed him passionately._

_Oh, how I've missed the feeling of his lips on mine._

_I held his hands in mine as we rested our foreheads against each other._

_"Are you real?" I asked hoping to God that I wasn't just imagining him._

_"I'm real. Are you?" He asked back._

_"I think so," I said wonderingly._

_"What are you doing here baby?"_

_I didn't know how to answer._

_"Where are we?" I asked._

_"This is where we go before we get to go to heaven. We're dying." He told me._

_"Why are you here? What happened?" I said once I realized he's dying too._

_"I missed you too much. I was miserable without you. I just wanted to be with you." He said with tears running down his face._

_I felt myself becoming weaker in his hands. I felt numb. I looked down and saw my leg was slowly dissolving into thin air._

_"Mikey-"_

_"What's happening to you?"_

_"Jeremy he- He kept me hostage for weeks and he amputated my leg and shot me," I said starting to fall._

_Michael held me and slowly laid me on the floor. He sat next to me and pulled me into his lap._

_"Am I gonna die?" I asked scared._

_"I don't know baby boy, but I promise you everything will be okay." He said while running his hand through my hair._

_"I love you,"_

_"I love you too," He said before kissing me on the forehead lightly._

_I heard voices in my head and my vision started to blur as I saw bright lights in my face and heard doctors yelling and shouting around me._

_"Mikey, they're trying to save me. I don't wanna be saved. I wanna stay here with you." I said burying my face in his neck._

_"Lukey you have to go, I want to be with you too but if you have a chance to live, you should take it." He told me sensitively._

_"What about you?" I asked feeling myself start to miss him already._

_"They won't be able to save me in time. I've been here for a while now, I'm going to heaven soon." He told me._

_"But I need you." I cried._

_"I know baby. I promise you'll always have me. I'll be watching over you and protecting you every day." He said._

_"Mikey? Can I ask you something before I go?"_

_"Of course sweetheart." He said._

_"Will you marry me?" I asked him._

_I couldn't leave him without asking._

_"Of course I'll marry you, baby. I love you," He said before kissing me._

_"I love you too, so much," I said before I finally felt at peace in his arms._


	21. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so patient and waiting for this chapter. I love you all and hope you enjoy it. :))

**_December 26th_ **

***Third Person POV***

"Mum, I think he's waking up!" Jack whisper-yelled.

Luke's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light in the room.

Not too long after, he sighed deeply.

"I'm alive?" He croaked out.

"You did it, Luke. You won." Jack said hugging Luke lightly since he'd probably hurt him if he attacked him in a bear hug.

Liz was also in the room, crying tears of joy that her baby was alive. She was holding his face in her hands as she tried to stop crying. She rested her forehead against his and spoke,

"God I'm so glad you're okay Lukey. I'm so proud of you, you fought to survive and you won."

She kissed him on the cheek and wrapped her arms around him gently.

Everybody was so incredibly happy that Luke was alive, except for Luke himself.

He hadn't spoken to anyone directly since he woke up. He was staring down at his hands and fumbling with the hospital bracelet he had around his wrist. He was trying to remember every little detail about Michael from his dream.

Was it even a dream?

"Mum?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Is Mikey dead?" He blurted out.

Just asking made his stomach turn.

"Why would you think that? Last I heard he was getting ready to fly back to the US. He flew all the way here for your funeral." Liz answered.

Luke gained just the tiniest bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, Michael was alive.

But how could he ever be alive?

"Sweetie? Do you want me to ask the nurses to contact him?" Liz asked.

Luke nodded.

*

Liz went to the front desk to ask if they could contact Michael. She didn't care about Michael at all, in fact, he was the reason Luke had to go through this whole thing.

"Hello, could you help me with something?"

The secretary/nurse smiled and agreed to help.

"My son is a patient here and he was just wondering if you could contact someone to let them know he's here," Liz said wishing Luke would just forget about Michael and move on.

"Of course. What's the name?" The secretary asked.

"Michael Clifford," Liz said, disgusted that she even had to say his name.

He hurt her baby and he deserves to think Luke is dead.

The secretary looked confused as she typed something into her computer.

"I'm sorry ma'am but is this him?" She said turning her screen so Liz could see it.

_On the screen was a red-haired boy named Michael G. Clifford. When Michael met Luke, his hair was colored reverse skunk, when Luke left for tour, it was blue, and while Luke was gone, Mike had dyed it red. Before Luke was due to come home, Michael had bleached his hair back to simple blonde. Luke could never shut up about how excited he was  to get to go home and run his fingers through Mikey's soft blonde hair._

 After Liz nodded, the secretary spoke with a sad tone.

"Ma'am I'm very sorry to say we have a death certificate for this man." She told Liz.

"Michael? Good god, he can't be dead. He was alive and well just a couple days ago." Liz said in disbelief.

She may not care about Michael, but she did care about Luke. She was gonna be the one who had to tell him that Michael is dead.

"He died last night. Apparent suicide by overdose. I'm very sorry for your loss. Is there anyone else you'd like me to contact?" She asked Liz.

Liz shook her head and walked back to Luke's room, silently thinking up a speech so she could break the news to Luke. When she entered his room, Jack was sitting on the chair next to Luke's bed and telling him about everything he's missed. Liz walked over to Luke who still wasn't showing any emotion or reacting to anything Jack was saying.

"Jack, could you give us a minute?" Liz asked Jack nervously.

Jack nodded and walked out into the hall.

"Lukey, we need to talk," She told Luke.

"About what? Are you about to tell me Mikey is dead? Save the fucking speech where you pretend to feel sorry for me." Luke said before turning over and covering himself with the thin hospital blanket.

"But how did you know?" Liz asked confused.

"I was with him. When I was in surgery and I almost died, I was with him." He said calmly.

"I'm sorry honey," Liz told him with true sadness in her eyes.

"No, you aren't. Please leave, I want to be alone," Luke told her as kindly as he could manage.

Liz didn't even respond before walking out into the hall.

Luke began to cry as soon as she left the room. He wanted to go home. Not back to his room that hides the infamous pink speakers or the house he shared with his two best friends. He wanted to go HOME. Back to the house he shared with Mikey. He wished that he could go back to the first time they hung out. When he entered Michael's house and was greeted by Bo, the happiest dog he's ever met. When they had a two-person dance party then ate a whole pizza together. When they fell asleep in each other's arms and woke up together.

He needed to be with Mikey again.

**~**

***A Couple Weeks Later***

**~**

**_January 22nd_ **

***Luke's POV***

I had been in the hospital for almost a month now and I was more than ready to go home. The doctor had insisted I stay here until I was almost fully healed so they could keep an eye on me. I'd started using a prosthetic leg and it had been really hard to get used to having it. I'd walked with it a couple times and I'd gotten pretty good at it over the last couple days. I had lots of free time so I'd walk around in the hallways and go visit some of the other patients I've gotten to meet.

I'd gotten to watch a whole lot of crappy hospital tv and eat way too much hospital food. I've been in and out of the hospital so many times this year I don't even flinch when I have to eat the food here anymore. I may have also charmed one of the nurses into sneaking french fries in for me from McDonalds. You gotta do what you gotta do.

I still felt sad most days but I tried to laugh and smile like Mikey would want me to. It was hard to stay happy. Mikey could make me happy so quickly, he made happiness an easy thing to feel when I was around him.

*

Jack drove us to the airport and helped me carry my things. I still wasn't as strong as I wish I was but I was slowly building up my strength as the days go by. We had decided Jack was going to go back to California with me for a couple weeks until I get settled back in and feel comfortable on my own. I didn't completely trust myself on my own yet so it was nice to know he'd be around.

*

When we arrived at the airport I was mobbed by fans and paparazzi. Everybody was shouting questions and throwing themselves at me. Multiple cameras were in my face and I didn't know how to handle it.

I tried hard to maintain my emotions but I couldn't do it anymore. I was being shoved and pushed around and my prosthetic leg couldn't keep me up. I fell to the floor and curled up into a ball. I wanted it all to end, I didn't want to feel anymore pain.

_"Luke, why did you get to survive but not your band mates?"_

_"Luke! Please take a picture with me!"_

_"Luke, what was it like being held captive for almost a month?"_

_"Luke can you please sign my ticket!"_

_"Luke, you've just lost all of your friends and everyone has to be wondering, how are you feeling?"_

I needed everybody to just stop.

I could hear Jack and the security guards screaming at everyone and trying to get a space cleared to get me out. Not long after, I felt myself being lifted into a wheelchair and wheeled away from the crowd quickly. We successfully got through the airport security and got all our stuff onto the plane. Once we were in our seats I decided to go through Twitter and see how the fans were doing. They'd lost their family just like I had.

_Luke5SOS: Hey guys, I hope you're all doing alright. I love you guys, stay strong. :-)_

I looked through my timeline and saw everyone tweeting me incredibly nice things. I went to see what was trending and was shocked when I saw #StayStrongLukeWeLoveYou trending number one worldwide. I felt tears build up in my eyes and my heart felt so happy and loved. Turns out I hadn't lost everyone I loved, my fans were my family. We would all get through this together.

*

**_January 23rd_ **

***Luke's POV***

When I arrived home this morning everything was exactly how I last remembered it. Michael had told me he never liked change. Changing his furniture around was rare in his house unless it was to replace something broken. I walked into his bedroom which had become ours, the bed was messy and there were blood stains all over the floor. I walked into the bathroom and discovered that the mirror on the wall had been shattered. Michael had punched the mirror and cut up his hand in the process. I can't imagine how he must have felt when he found out what happened. Jack had told me that Cayla was the one who had broken the news to Michael. How did Michael never suspect that Cayla had anything to do with what was happening? I'd left Michael in danger without even knowing it.

My only priority had been to protect Mikey. I had failed at the one thing I swore to myself I would do for the rest of my life.

***Later That Day***

I was sitting in the living room on the couch working on a new song. It had been hard for me to write lately but I felt inspired today. I wrote about Michael and how much I missed him. I know when I sang, Michael could still hear me. He always loved it when I sang to him, I would admire how his face lit up whenever I sang a lyric that was obviously about him. He told me he played guitar and he promised to sing me a song one day when he was confident enough to let people hear his voice. I would have never pegged him as the type to play guitar but he told me he learned how to play after realizing how good he was at Guitar Hero. I actually had the chance to play him at GH once and he kicked my ass. He was a master on the guitar and I always told him he should join a band or just do something to show everyone his talent but he was always too insecure about everything he did to ever let anyone know he could sing or play.

*

I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it!" Jack shouted from the kitchen.

He walked to the front door and greeted whoever was there.

"Luke you have a visitor!" Jack said happily.

When I turned around to see who was there I saw Bo running happily toward the couch with an envelope in his mouth.

"Bo!!!!!" I said happily as he jumped onto the seat next to me.

I hugged him tightly and ran my hand down his back. I took the card from his mouth and opened it carefully.

"Get well soon. :)" It read.

It was signed by Bo's paw and our neighbors.

They'd been dog sitting him ever since Michael left for Australia. I felt like Bo was all I had left of Michael even though I knew that wasn't true. Michael loved this dog so deeply and I know Bo loved him as much as the rest of us.

Our neighbor, Sarah, walked in behind Bo and greeted me.

"Hey Luke, how have you been? I heard what happened to Michael, I'm so sorry." She said seeming truly sad.

"I've been okay. Thank you for taking care of Bo for so long. I hope he wasn't too much of a pain." I told her.

"He was an angel. If you need time to heal we can take care of him whenever you need. We're always around." She said thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Sarah. It means a lot." I said with a smile.

"Well I've gotta go pick the kids up from school but if you need anything just give me a call," Sarah said hugging me.

"I will," I said before saying goodbye.

When she left I returned to working on my song as Bo sat by my side. He whined as he sat with his head resting on my thigh. He must be wondering where Michael is and hoping he'll be home soon. In a way he made it feel like Mikey was here with us but at the same time, he made me miss him just that much more.

~

I finally finished my song and although it was a sad one, I was proud of it. I was proud of myself for finally beginning to try and be happy and for finally being able to write again. I grabbed my guitar from its stand in our bedroom and pressed record on my phone. I wanted to post this so all the fans could know that I knew how much pain they felt but that in the end, we'd make it through this together.

*

_Yes, I do, I believe  
That one day I will be  
Where I was right there  
Right next to you_  
  
 _And it's hard  
The days just seem so dark  
The moon and the stars  
Are nothing without you  
  
Your touch, your skin  
Where do I begin?  
No words can explain  
The way I'm missing you  
  
Deny this emptiness  
This hole that I'm inside  
These tears_  
 _They tell their own story_  
  
Told me not to cry when you were gone  
But the feeling's overwhelming, it's much too strong  
  
Can I lay by your side?  
Next to you, you  
And make sure you're alright  
I'll take care of you  
I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight  
  
I'm reaching out to you  
Can you hear my call?  
This hurt that I've been through  
I'm missing you, missing you like crazy  
  
You told me not to cry when you were gone  
But the feeling's overwhelming, it's much too strong  
  
Can I lay by your side?  
Next to you, you  
And make sure you're alright  
I'll take care of you  
I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight  
  
Lay me down tonight  
Lay me by your side  
Lay me down tonight  
Lay me by your side  
Can I lay by your side?  
Next to you  
You

 

_**{Lay Me Down by Sam Smith}** _

**_~_ **

***Third Person POV***

**_In the year 2023 when Luke was 28 years old, he decided to adopt a baby boy. He always wanted to be a dad and he was okay with being a single dad. He didn't want to raise this baby with anybody else. He named his little boy Michael Gordon Hemmings, because even if half the world didn't believe it, Michael was this baby's dad just as much as Luke was. He'd never be lucky enough to meet him or get to hear stories about how many different times he had colored his hair but Luke would make sure he knew how amazing his dad was._ **

**_~_ **

**_November 20th, 2037_ **

_Michael was now 14 years old and he began asking more and more questions about his dad. For his dad's birthday, they went and visited his grave for the day. He'd asked Luke how he'd met Michael and how they had ended up together. Luke had told him the entire story, of course from his own point of view and not Michael's but I think both stories were equally as amazing since the ending was always that they had ended up together._

_"So that's how you and dad met?" Michael asked still taking in the story._

_Luke nodded while taking a sip from his water bottle._

_"All because of coffee and vinyl,"_

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm truly speechless right now and don't know how to start this note. This was the last chapter of 'Coffee & Vinyl' and I can't put into words how thankful I am for every single person who has read it. I'm getting so emotional right now and I just can't believe this story is over. It may seem like nothing to some of you guys but this is my first completed fic and I never thought I would get to know how the story ended. It's been a hell of a rollercoaster ride that's for sure. As most of you know, this story is published on Wattpad, AO3, and Movellas. With all 3 sites combined this story is almost at 5K reads. That is absolutely incredible and I can't thank you guys enough. Whenever I'm feeling down I come back and read old comments because seeing your guys' reactions is my favorite part of every day. I've loved every moment of this story and I'll never forget how much each and every person who read this story has changed my life. I love you all. Thank you for everything.


	22. Q&A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys!! Sorry this is up so late I just hosted a party and I've been incredibly busy all week so the only time I've had to answer questions is my free period at school. I answered them all in my notebook and transferred them all today. Also, I had to move out of my bedroom basically for remodeling so I've been busy with that too. I really need to go to bed I'm exhausted but I hope you enjoy these Q&A's. Love you guys!!!

~Questions For Michael~

Q: "What would your life be like if you'd never met Luke?"

A: If I'd never met Luke, my life would still be really boring and I wouldn't know what true happiness feels like. :)

-

Q: "How did Luke affect your life?"

A: Luke made everything in life easier to enjoy because at the end of the day I had him to come home to and that's all I needed.

-

Q: "What was your favorite thing about Luke?"

A: My favorite thing about Luke might be his laugh or his smile. I really love his eyes too, ever since the first time we made eye contact while he was making my coffee. His voice is so calming and I could listen to him forever. But I love all of Luke, he's my favorite person in the universe.

-

Q: "Does it bother you that the last time you saw Luke was in a space between heaven and earth?"

A: It doesn't bother me it actually brings me closure that I had the chance to tell him I love him one last time and I'll always be thankful for that and the fact that he lived.

-

Q: "If you could have chosen what your last moments together would have been like, what would it have looked like?"

A: This is gonna sound cheesy but I would have chosen to be back home in bed cuddling with Luke and just listening to his voice. No matter what, I always had nights like that to look forward to.

-

Q: "How do you feel about your son Michael Jr.?"

A: I'm extremely happy that Luke decided to adopt a baby and I'm honored that he named him after me. Ever since he was 8 he lays in bed every night and just talks to me. He asks me how my day was and tells me about his. He tells me about the new friends he makes and how he's doing at school. He tells me he wants to meet me someday and that he keeps a picture of me and Luke in his locker. I wish I'd been lucky enough to meet him. Luckily he has Luke, the most amazing father anybody could ever ask for.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Questions For Luke~

Q: "Would you ever consider dating someone else?"

A: I don't think I'll ever consider dating anyone else. I believe everyone has 1 soulmate and I already found mine. I'm incredibly happy as I am right now and I have Michael's love, I don't need anybody else's. 

-

Q: "How does it feel not having Michael by your side?"

A: At fist it made me feel empty and sad most days but when I noticed small things would move without me having touched them, I knew Michael was watching over me. Especially when I woke up and the ring I'd bought for him was on his pillow. I thought I'd lost it when I went to Australia since I'd taken it with me so he wouldn't find it. He cleans everything and I was certain he'd find it if I left it here. It had to be him that found it and placed it on his pillow, it was his ghost. So in a way, it felt like he was always by my side protecting me.

-

Q: "Did you find out about what your dad said to Michael before he died?"If so, how did you find out?"

A: I did find out when I was in the hospital because Jack told me. After I asked my mum to leave, my dad came to visit and he apologized for it before I even knew. Jack was also in the room so he chirped in and explained. I haven't forgiven him and I don't plan to. 

-

Q: "Were you mad about all the mean things your dad said?"

A: Of course I was mad. Nothing that's happened has been Michael's fault so no one had the right to blame him. Everyone who blamed him caused 

-

Q: "Are you still a singer/is music still your passion even though ALL your band members are dead?"

A: I do still write music even if I have no intentions of ever recording or releasing it. I write about Michael most days so it feels right to keep the songs to myself instead of letting the whole world know I'm a mess. (Also thanks for the reminder that ALL my friends are dead rlly puts a smile on my face.)

-

Q: "Was Michael your moonlight or your sunshine?"

A: Michael was both my moonlight and my sunshine. On rainy days when I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, he was there to let the sun shine through. No matter what mood you were in he could always cheer you up. He was also my moonlight, I'd known that forever. In one of the newer songs I'd written, he inspired a certain verse.

"The darkest night never felt so bright with you by my side"

-

Q: "Is there anything you would've done differently during your relationship with Michael and also life in general?"

A: I don't think there's anything I would have done differently during my relationship with Mikey. I wish I'd met him sooner and gotten to spend more time with him. I wish I would've been told to spend more time with the people that I love because they could be taken away at any moment.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Questions For Jeremy~

Q: "Why are you such a psychopath?"

A: Who says I'm a psychopath? I'm not a psycho I just work like karma. I give people what they deserve.

-

Q: "Can't you just forgive and forget?"

A: I don't need to forgive anyone for anything. I can't forget how terrible my only childhood was all because Michael stole my family.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Questions For Arzaylea~

Q: "Do you still have your child?"

A: Y'all know Arzel right?...

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Questions For Cayla~

Q: "Why would you betray Michael?"

A: I never meant to betray Mikey. I told Jeremy info on the boys once. I realized how wrong it was and when I told Jeremy I couldn't help him anymore he threatened to kill me. After that, I didn't care about Luke and Michael anymore, I just wanted to live.

-

Q: "Do you regret betraying Michael?"

A: I do regret it most of the time. I should never have gotten involved with Jeremy, to begin with.

-

Q: "Do you realize Jeremy basically killed Calum?"

A: I do realize that Jeremy killed Calum. He never told me the extent of his plans. I just thought he was infatuated with Michael and wanted Luke out of the way. I should never have let it go this far and I'm extremely sorry for all the damage he's caused.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Questions For Luke's Dad~

Q: "How could you say those things to Mikey?"

A: It was a heat of the moment thing, I was angry and Michael was everyone's target so my anger took over.

-

Q: "Do you regret any feelings or words you said to Michael?"

A: Of course I regret every harsh word I ever said to Michael. I know he was a wonderful boy and that my son loved him. I always supported them and I wish their relationship wouldn't have ended so tragically.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Questions For Me~

-

Q: "Why are you hurting my children like this?"

A: I'm truly sorry for hurting your children but I promise it hurt me to hurt them and I feel terrible ya know they're my children too. 

-

Q: "Why would you hurt my soul like this?"

A: I'm sorry for the pain, I love u.

-

Q: "How did Jeremy even get into the concert/venue?"

A: He and Arzaylea knocked out some of the people who worked at the venue and posed as security guards. Nobody was looking out for him since no one was expecting him to follow them to Australia.

-

Q: "Why did Mikey have to kill himself?"

A: He was miserable without Luke and Luke's parents did an interview and blamed everything on Michael. They told the fans everything that had happened since Luke had met Michael. The entire world was blaming him for what happened and he couldn't handle the guilt. All he wanted was to be forgiven and protect Luke. He's in a better place now.

-

Q: "Any alternate endings?"

A: When I first began writing this story back in the summer of last year my original ending was that Luke was going to die in a plane crash on the way home from Australia.

|

This was just kind of the boring ending I made up when I was barely half a chapter into the story and I ended up trashing it not too long later.

Then there came a period of time where I had 3 different ending and I couldn't choose one to save my life. It was such a hard time and I was at a point where if I couldn't decide on an ending I was going to delete the whole story. Here are the 3 endings that ruined my life,

>The first one I have is basically what happened in the real story but before Michael flies to Australia he tries to kill himself but Cayla (she isn't evil in this version) saves him just in time. then Luke fights his way out of the building Jeremy is holding him in. When Michael wakes up in the hospital from his suicide attempt, Luke is by his side and they go back to being their cute selves. Luke continues to be a musician and him and Michael begin to sing together. Eventually, they go on tour together and Luke proposes to Michael during one of the shows.

|

This one is a happy ending which I liked except for the fact that I have a love/hate relationship with happy endings. I didn't really want my story to end with tooth-rotting fluff either so...

> One of the other endings I had planned was Luke actually dies in the bombing and Michael tries to take his own life. They still see each other in the space between heaven and earth but this time, Michael survives and Luke passes away. A couple years later Michael finds a surrogate mother and has a son who he names Luke.

|

As you guys can probably tell this ending is pretty much what happened in the book except the characters stories are reversed. I love both Luke and Michael with all my heart so having to choose one to kill off was extremely difficult and sad.

> This last one is pretty much the same but like during the bombing Jeremy and Arzaylea escape the venue with Luke and once they get to a secondary location they facetime Michael so he can watch Luke die since he's barely hanging on. Luke's last words are him proposing to Michael.

|

These endings are all just different versions of each other but again those were the ones I came up with almost a year ago.

Some fo the more recent ones that I actually almost used in the last chapter were odd. Here is a couple, 

> (I might have been on pain meds when I came up with this one but) Arzaylea kills Jeremy and as it turns out Naughty Boy was her partner all along.

> Michael was actually helping and he had fallen in love with Jeremy after the party. He'd convinced his brain that it was actually Luke who raped him and Jeremy was just trying to save him.

> There was another one in which Michael had been told he was allowed to fly to Sydney and surprise Luke. Michael dies in the bombing and Jeremy kills Luke shortly after.

> And finally I had lots of others where Jack was the partner or Luke's dad was but I'm not gonna go into detail because I like that I chose Cayla since you all trusted and loved her so it made it shocking.

-

Q: "Will you be writing anymore Muke stories?"

A: For right now my main focuses are my upcoming Calum and Lashton stories. I'm also working on another project so I'm very busy at the moment. The possibility of me writing another Muke fic in the future is still very high since they're one of my favorite pairings.

-

Q: "Do you have another story planned or will it take a while?"

A: Like I said I have two stories planned so I'm hoping to have the first chapter of my Calum fic up by Halloween so be ready for that! Actually... by the time you read this I will have just posted the summary/introduction for that story. Enjoy!!!!

-

Q: "How did you decide to end the story the way you did?"

A: As you already read I had a very difficult time choosing an ending so what I ended up doing was emailing my 8th-year teacher. I decided to ask her for advice because I trusted her. She told me that if I always have sad endings nobody will wanna read what I write because they know how it's going to end. After hearing that along with discovering my hate for happy endings, I was lost. Then it hit me, what if I have a sad ending but something good still comes out of it? At that moment I decided that a bittersweet ending was the right way to go. Of course, this doesn't mean every story I ever write will have a bittersweet ending it just means I'm trying to figure out what I like and what I don't.

-

Q: "What inspired you to write this book?"

A: Back when I began writing this story I had a best friend who lived across the country. They were the only reason I was still alive and they made me incredibly happy. Nothing made them happier than when I rambled about how much I shipped them and Luke together. I'd always write them short little Luke imagines then I considered just writing a whole book. I didn't know if I could do it but I gave myself a two-month deadline and got to work. Obviously, I got nowhere near finishing it by the end of 2 months. I promised my friend I'd finish the story and send them the chapters as I wrote them. I never intended to post this story anywhere. Almost a year ago, this friend and I decided we could no longer be friends for various reasons. I wanted to delete the story and forget about everything so I wouldn't have to feel pain. I somehow got myself to continue writing and now here we are. I'm very thankful that someone inspired me to write this story and I'm so thankful for everyone who read it.

-

Q: "Is writing your passion or just a hobby?"

A: Sort of both like I really love writing even though it really annoys me sometimes. I'd like to be an author someday but if not that's okay??? Like 50/50 I guess which is the worst answer ever but its the truth so,,,

\- 

Q: "What's the best writing advice you've ever come across?"

A: I'm about to insert a quote (I'm not 100% that he actually said this I just heard he did) from Calum Hood. It's not really writing advice but I like it so leave me alone.

"You can't necessarily force inspiration or creativity, that took me a long time to come to terms with because you see a lot of people -- well especially when I was younger I'd be in a writing session and I'd be like 'I can't think of anything' and I'd be TRYING to be inspired by something, but it just doesn't happen that way... and so you kind of have to step out of your mind for a little bit and just let your mind go wherever it wants from there... and it'll come." 

-

Q: "Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?"

A: 90% of the time I write the story from start to finish. Very rarely do I write random parts and just put them all together. I don't know I just feel more organized writing in order.

-

Q: "If you could only write one pairing for the rest of your life, who would it be?"

A: This is gonna sound extremely shocking but if I had to choose one I'd probably choose Cashton. I'll probably change my mind in like 5 minutes but that's my answer for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for sending in questions!! I had so much fun answering them and I can't wait for you guys to read my next story. Now one last time, I love you guys and I hope you all have an amazing weekend. :)


	23. one more thing...

I was so out of it I forgot the most important part of the Q&A, my question to you.

...What happened to Jeremy?


	24. the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few of you guys told me you wanted to know how Jeremy's story ended in my head so here goes nothing.

***Third Person POV***

**_December 3rd, 2040_ **

Michael Jr. walked through the front door and dropped his backpack next to the couch in the living room. He was now a senior in high school and only months away from graduating. He'd changed a lot since being a freshman. All he cared about as a freshman was making sure that the upperclassmen thought he was cool. They never did. He was shy, quiet, and clumsy, but he was smart. He was mostly in honors and AP classes because even though he hated school, he wanted to make his dad proud.

Now as a senior he's outgoing and friendly. He's learning how to play the guitar and he's discovered he can sing pretty well too. Even though Luke isn't his biological dad everyone says he gets his talent from him. 

When he was a sophomore, his school had a singing competition and more than anything he wanted his dad to be there and hear him sing. To Luke's surprise, his son sang one of his old songs by the name of Outer Space to a crowd of over one thousand people. The entire school had stood up and cheered with tears in their eyes. When the song was over Luke couldn't help but run on stage and proudly hug his son while crying softly. He knew wherever Michael was he was a proud father too.

*

"Dad? Are you home?" He shouted, walking through the quiet hallways of their house.

After a couple seconds with no answer, he figured his dad was out running errands. He walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water before taking a seat on the couch in the living room. He turned on the tv and began taking his homework out of his backpack. The television came to life and was automatically set on the news channel. Michael picked up the controller again and punched in the numbers of the channel he wanted to watch. After a couple attempts and the channel not changing, he figured the batteries in the remote were dead. Since he's part of the Hemmings family, he was way too lazy to get up and go look for new batteries so he just settled with watching the news.

He'd only occasionally look up at the screen when the shitty weather was being talked about or something interesting was being shown. However, his full undivided attention was set on the screen when the news broadcaster spoke words that sent chills down Michael's spine.

**_"Breaking News: On the 26th anniversary of a tragic bombing in Sydney, Australia, the bomber has escaped. In December of 2014, a band by the name of 5 Seconds of Summer was performing in their hometown when multiple bombs detonated inside the venue. Several dozens of people were killed including two of the band members and two who assisted in the bombing. The main assailant, however, was caught weeks later and arrested by police. Months later when in court he pleaded insanity to avoid the death penalty. He was then sentenced to life in a psychiatric ward as a prisoner with no chance of parole._ **

**_He is now on the loose and considered very dangerous. If you see this man please call the authorities and do NOT approach him. He may be armed with various weapons."_ **

Michael slowly pressed the pause button on the remote as he examined the mugshot of Jeremy they had on screen. He had never wanted to see the face of the monster, that had hurt his family so much. He never wanted to have to see the man who killed his dad. 

He'd never tried to imagine what Jeremy had looked like, he didn't think it was possible to put a face on someone like him.

In a panic, Michael quickly retrieved his phone from his backpack so he could call Luke to come home as soon as possible. The trilling sound coming from his phone as he waited to hear his father's voice felt never ending. Once he reached his voicemail box he left Luke a quick and simple message with a tinge of urgency in his voice. Luke would sense it.

_"Hey dad, just wondering when you were gonna be home. There's something really important we need to talk about. I really need you here, dad. Come home soon. I love you."_

He hung up the phone and quietly turned off the tv. He then walked over to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. Once his face was dry, he walked upstairs to his room and laid down in his bed. He shoved his earbuds into his ears and set the volume on his phone to full blast.

He laid there, tired from how early he'd gotten up for school this morning. He began falling asleep as the loud music played in his ears. He was just about gone before a foul smell took over his senses. He opened his eyes and there was a man standing over him, rag in hand. He laid in shock, he wouldn't dare move an inch.

"I'm Jeremy, I'm sure you've heard lots about me," He said evilly before forcefully holding the rag over Michael's face.

*

Luke walked into his house hours later, stressed and tired from the day he'd endured. Every December 3rd felt like hell on earth. It was always filled with guilt, regret, and grief.

"Mikey? You home?" He shouted after spotting Michael's backpack on the floor.

He walked into Michael's bedroom and saw nothing but a messy floor and an unmade bed. He reached into his pocket for his phone so he could call Mike and see where he was and what he wanted for dinner.

Upon turning his phone on he noticed he had a missed call from Michael that was a couple hours old. 

_"Hey dad, just wondering when you were gonna be home. There's something really important we need to talk about. I really need you here, dad. Come home soon. I love you."_

He worried slightly at the tone of urgency in Michael's voice and immediately called him back.

_"Hey Mikey, I'm home now, just wondering where you are. Call me back when you can. Love you"_

He hung up and went back down to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Once he had his caffeine, he went and sat on the couch in the living room, breathing out a sigh of relief that today was almost over.

He turned the TV on and the first thing he saw was the screen paused on the face of the man he'd hated more than anyone in his life. He never wanted to have to see him again, especially on a day like today. Every year they talked about everyone who passed away in the bombing and all the damage Jeremy did. Jeremy didn't deserve to be talked about and no one understood why the news outlets were so interested in him every year. Luke felt the blood start to boil in his veins and he couldn't control the anger that rushed through him. He forcefully chucked the remote at the television screen, cracking it and causing it to lose power.

After a couple minutes of letting his anger settle, he got up to examine the cracks on the screen. It wasn't long before his phone began ringing from its spot on the island in the kitchen. Sighing he went and picked up the phone, hoping it was Michael. He needed some happiness in his day.

_Unknown Caller_

_"Hello?"_

and on the other line, was somebody quietly humming the tune to Disconnected...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Y'all about to yell at me in the comments I knoW ALREADY OK. Don't hate me just yet though I have an announcement coming on Friday so make sure to keep your notifications on for me until then! Hope you guys enjoyed what happened to Jeremy even though this probably didn't give you guys any closure and you all hate me evEN MORE NOW. Either way, I love you guys, and please don't hate me.


	25. *sequel announcement*

Hey, guys! it's been awhile since I posted the announcement that I was thinking about doing a sequel to the story. Only about 5 or 6 of you commented saying you wanted it and I thought long and hard about it. I decided that I'm ready for the Coffee & Vinyl-era to be over and I'm eager to move on to my next stories. I also figured that writing is so time-consuming and I don't have time to write a story that only a couple people actually want. So, I filmed a video I was going to upload to Youtube basically explaining what the sequel would have been for the few people who did want it. That video was meant to go up today.

Opening Wattpad tonight made me change my mind. I'm going to write a sequel. For those few of you who really wanted it, thank you for being so supportive, this book is dedicated to you.

I'll go get to work on the sequel, but I wish you all a Happy New Year. Thank you for everything.


	26. from the grave//please read

hi guys! it’s been a hot minute since i’ve written anything. it was a busy year and there was a lot of times where i wanted to write and i just didnt have enough motivation or inspiration. but now im back, with 10 new story ideas i’ll be sure to work on as soon as possible.

i’m sorry for the delay in updates for save me, i’m working to make it the best it can be for all of you to enjoy. chapter two should be up within a week or two.

and for those of you who still care, the sequel to coffee & vinyl is still in the process of happening. the title will be from the grave and you can expect chapter one by the end of january. coffee & vinyl itself is currently under heavy editing but i would just like to thank you for giving it so much love. across wattpad, ao3, and movellas... it has surpassed 10k reads! im so grateful for everyone who took the time to read even if it was only one chapter and you were only giving me a chance. thank you.

i hope you all have a wonderful new year and i can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store. i love you all. see you next year :)


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